Lift Him Up

  When I was 14 I got my first job umpiring youth baseball games. I was young to be given that responsibility, but I took it very seriously.  I purchased the equipment I would need, as well as a rulebook.  I studied it with great care so. 

            I will never forget the “pep talk” my dad gave me the night of my first game. I was confident I would do well, but fearful of making a mistake at the same time. As we were getting out of the car he said to me, “Son.  One thing.  Remember, nobody is coming tonight to watch you umpire.”

            Wow!  I had played the game since I was six, and there were people who came to watch me play. But this was different. And he was right. Parents, grandparents, siblings, and friends came to watch players, not umpires.

            Later he would remind me, “It’s in your best interest to be invisible.  If they are talking about you after the game, it’s never a good thing.”

            Again, he was right.  People don’t talk about all of the good calls made by a referee or umpire. The only time they are mentioned is when they mess up. 

            As a preacher I often ask the Lord to hide me behind the cross as I preach.  I want people to see Jesus, not me, as I speak or write.  I often tell stories (like the preceding one) to help illustrate a point.  But the goal is always the same. Elevate Jesus. 

            John wrote of the Jesus, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” The Lord Himself said, “If I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men to myself.”  That was clearly a reference to the cross, but it remains the same today.  As Christians, we are to lift up the name and the glory of Jesus.

            Here’s the deal. You can’t be entirely invisible. But if you are distracting others from Jesus, then you are not doing what you have been called and gifted to do.  We need believers who are willing to stay in the background as we point others to the Lord. He is the only one who can save. Let’s be careful to put Him first in all we say and do.