Our "prevent" defense.

"Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by John. He would have prevented Jesus saying, 'I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?' But Jesus answered him, 'Let it be so now; for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.' Then John consented."

(Matthew 3:13-15)

John the Baptist was doing his thing - baptizing people... getting ready for the Messiah... and along comes Jesus. To be baptized. "Wait, what?!?" says John. "I think you should probably baptize me instead." In fact, Matthew tells us that "he would have prevented Jesus." Which is kind of unsettling, isn't it? John thought he had a better grasp of the situation than Jesus did. Let that sink in for a minute.

How often are we in the same spot as John? God is nudging us to do something... or make a difficult decision... or relate to someone in a certain way... and we decide to "pull rank" on God. "NO... I think a BETTER idea would be if I..."

Really? We truly think we have a better perspective than the Almighty?

"Let it be," says Jesus. "Just trust me on this. You may think you have a better handle on what you should do... but just humor me, and go with it."

And weeks... months... or years later, looking back... we'll probably come to see that God's plan worked out better than anything we would have chosen on our own.