Reflecting on John 1:19-23
And this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?”
This post is inspired by John 1:19-23 which reads:
And this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?” He did not refuse to confess, but openly declared, “I am not the Christ.”
“Then who are you?” they inquired. “Are you Elijah?”
He said, “I am not.”
“Are you the Prophet?”
He answered, “No.”
So they said to him, “Who are you? We need an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”
John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet:
“I am a voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ ”
Unlike John the Baptist, I don't have such a straightforward answer to who I am. I know who I've been, and more importantly, who I want to be. I've been a website developer, a software engineer, and an author. I've been a good friend, a confidant, and a trained arbitrator. Speaking of training, I hold certificates in Email Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Local Search Engine Optimization, and Data Analytics, in addition to my Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. I say all this not to brag, but to try and arrive at a picture of who I am.
When I leave all these certifications aside, I find that I am a son, a brother, a Christian, a writer, and the Chief Technology Officer at Toki Mabogunje & Co. Those are the things I feel to be a constant, day in and day out. But I hope to be more...
I hope to be a 3-time author, an educator, and a thought leader, by the end of 2022. Okay, those are big aspirations, and to be honest, I'm not so sure that I'm going to actualise all of them by my deadline. But I'm dedicated to them and committed to making them come true.
So, what does all this tell me? It reminds me that I have done some things with my life - and I am going to do some more things going forward. It reminds me that even when I strip away all my achievements and all my hopes, I am still some things to some people... and some things to myself.
When I started this blog post, my aim was to confess. To confess who I was, the same way that John the Baptist was able to confess who he was when the priests and Levites asked this of him. And as you've seen, I've struggled. Such a simple question, yet such a complicated answer. I am a lot of things, and all of them are meaningful to me.
Perhaps I just haven't found my one true north like John. Or perhaps I am multitalented. Whatever the case may be, this exercise has led me to see, that I am multifaceted. And it is up to me, to decide what that means for my future.