Herod’s choice

When we consider the story of Herod’s beheading of John the Baptist, we can see how Herod ends up making a poor decision. His sense of self-worth comes from what people think of him, and for him appearances count more than substance.

The distress Herod felt at the request for John’s head was the movement of the Spirit not to harm John, but Herod quickly dismisses this feeling, perhaps fearing that if he gave it more thought and consideration, he might find himself saying no to the request, and he didn’t want to disappoint his audience. He liked to listen to John, but he pushed that aside. He let his self-centered concerns sway his decision.

As disciples we are called to cultivate gratitude for God’s love and to experience the joy of living for God and for God’s people. But we can live in Herod’s world as well, closing our heart to the Spirit and living for ourselves.

In truth we probably live with one foot in each of these two worlds. But over the course of a lifetime we learn to live more and more in the world of God’s Spirit–the Spirit of the joy of God’s Kingdom. We learn to live more and more in God’s great love for us and enjoy fellowship with God’s people. This is growth in the Spirit and cause for us to give thanks.

“Great is the Lord and highly to be praised; his greatness is unsearchable.” (Psalm 145:3)