John 1:38 says, Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? Jesus saw them following Him and asked them what they sought. When we encounter Jesus and start to follow Him, a fair question is what are we seeking? Some would follow Jesus for material gain, feeling it would be good for business. Some would follow for their need to belong to something bigger than themselves. The only answer that has any real meaning is because He is our Master, and we want to be where He is. Verse thirty-nine adds, He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour. These two said Master, where do you live. He said, "Come and see." When He extends the invitation to come and see, Who He is and where He lives, we must simply follow Him. These two saw where He lived in the world that day and stayed with Him that night. When we come to Him in faith, accepting His salvation, we see Who He is and where He lives eternally. That does not mean we see heaven, but that He lives in the heart of every believer. To be His follower, we must give Him total control over our life, not just for a night, but for eternity. We never like to give up control, so too often we attempt to follow Him while going out own direction. That will never work. When we decide to do things our way after being in His will for a time, whether a night or decade, failure awaits. We begin to destroy our effectiveness as His witnesses in the world and only through asking His forgiveness and turning everything over to Him again can we become effective once again. We must leave all else and all others and put Him first in our lives. These two disciples could not follow John and Jesus, and they chose to follow Jesus. We must do the same. Verse forty continues, One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
Tuesday, August 2, 2016
Monday, August 1, 2016
John 1:35
John 1:35 says. Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; Verse thirty-six adds, And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! John the Baptist is standing with two of his disciples when he sees Jesus approaching. He says, "Behold, the Lamb of God," We, like John, must first recognize Jesus to point others to Him. John had been preaching to make people ready for the coming Messiah, and that included making himself ready. Until we are prepared by faith to make ourselves ready to recognize Christ as our Saviour, we will never follow Him. John did not keep his recognition of Jesus as the Messiah quiet. We must be like him and boldly proclaim Jesus as the Lamb of God, the Savior Who takes away the sins of the world. John knew that when Jesus came his ministry would be diminishing and Jesus would become the focus of the world. He did not allow his own position to keep him from proclaiming Christ, and neither can we. If we begin to let our own desires take priority over Christ, we become ineffective followers. Two of John's disciples left him and followed Jesus. Again, John did not get upset, because this is what he was preparing them for. If we lead someone to Christ today, and He leads them away from us, we need to be like John and realize this is what they are supposed to do. Then, the two disciples had to have faith that John recognized Jesus as the Messiah and faith to follow Him. If people have no faith in our own recognition of Jesus as the Savior, they are not as likely to accept Him as their Savior. John boldly proclaimed Christ was there in their midst, acknowledged Him when He recognized Him, and let his disciples go to Jesus. Christ is always in our midst today. We need to boldly proclaim Him and pray that all will follow Him, wherever He leads, even if it is away from us. Verse thirty-seven continues, And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. After John made his proclamation about Jesus, two of his disciples began to follow Jesus.