A young couple gets engaged one early spring day, and in their excitement, quickly start making wedding plans to mark the beginning of their life together.
First, they choose the friends and family members who will make up their wedding party: the groom chooses a dear friend from college as his best man.
As preparations for the wedding begin, the bride and groom have a glorious vision for their perfect day, and know just how they want their plans to unfold.
But over time, it becomes clear that the best man has ideas of his own.
He orders flowers for the big day without consulting the bride. He meets with the officiant on his own to discuss his preferences for the ceremony, and shows up at the bride’s house one day with a wedding dress that he’s decided is just perfect for her.
He even writes the wedding vows for the bride and groom and passes them on to the officiant. So helpful! He congratulates himself on all the time and effort he’s putting in for this special day – what great work he’s doing for his friends.
But when the bride and groom aren’t grateful for his work, the best man is befuddled. After all, he knows just how to make this the perfect wedding day for them.
It sounds crazy and ridiculous. Who would do that?
But don’t we sometimes behave exactly this way with God?
Your place in God’s plan
Like the bride and groom, God has a perfect plan. But too often, we get our own ideas in our heads about what our lives should look like and what we should spend our time doing. Maybe we have great intentions, but we get excited and wrapped up in ourselves, and forge ahead without talking to God first.
We tend to think that our lives are our own, or even that it’s God’s job to make everything work out for us according to our plan. But that’s now how it really is at all.
Our true purpose is to make ourselves available to be used by God.
In the way that a good best man does everything in his power to support the bride and groom, we need to have the same approach to our lives as followers of Jesus.
A best man defers to the bride and groom in everything, and never tries to make a decision without consulting them first. His job is to make them shine, and make their dream wedding day a reality. All he wants is for them to be happy.
The wedding is not about the best man, and similarly, God’s plan is not about us! When we make our own plans without first asking God how he wants to use us, we’re no better than the kooky best man trying to take over his friends’ wedding.
In John chapter 3 in the Bible, we find an incredible example of someone who understood this truth about our place in God’s story.
The Inspiring example of John the Baptist
John the Baptist came on the scene to help spread the word about the Messiah (Jesus) coming to earth. John was out there, teaching people the word of God, gaining followers and baptizing them.
At one point, John’s disciples noticed that Jesus was starting to get a bit more attention than John. It was no longer John that people were amazed at, impressed with, and going to to be baptized. They were going to Jesus, and that bothered John’s followers.
But John understood that his purpose was to point others to Jesus.
In the passage, John describes the intense joy that he has in giving all the glory to God – the way the best man at a wedding might be thrilled for his friend marrying the love of his life. He’s just honored to be there as a witness, and does whatever he can to make the day go according to their wishes.
In verse 30, he declares, “He must become greater; I must become less.”
In the same way, it’s critical that we recognize our place in God’s plan. We’re not the main characters. We exist to serve God, please him, and make his glory known.
When we make plans on our own without considering God’s plan first, all we accomplish is making a mess of things.
We exist to glorify God. It’s His story. We’re here to support Him.
We have the incredible privilege of being in the “wedding party”. We get to bear witness to God’s power and glory. He didn’t have to give us this place of honor in his plan, but he did. So let’s humble ourselves and remember that we’re the best man, not the bride or groom.
“No one can receive anything unless God gives it from heaven. You yourselves know how plainly I told you, ‘I am not the Messiah. I am only here to prepare the way for him.’ It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the bridegroom’s friend is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”
John 3:27-30
Melinda Ashley
Digital Specialist, STAR 99.1
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Thank You for this Incredible piece of wisdom and parable. It really hit home !
That is great to hear, Bob!
Thank you! Jesus answered my prayers with this piece🙏🏼
Praise God!! Thank you for reading it.
That was absolutely beautiful and made a lot of sense . For me , I talk to God about everything like he’s my bestie and rightfully so , he is . I ask him every single night as I’m praying “ do what you will of me “ I’m trying to be like one of his apostles. And funny but this past Sunday our msgr asked for help to clean our parish . And I looked up and smiled and immediately smiled and enjoyed cleaning “ Gods house “ ask and te shall receive
What a blessing you are to serve in that way! That’s such a beautiful expression of your faith.