Lifestyle
What can we learn from Jesus inviting His first disciples to follow Him?
“What do you seek?” Jesus asked them. By asking this question, Jesus forced his disciples to think about their motives. People follow Jesus for different reasons.
Many Jews wanted the Messiah to overthrow the Romans. They saw Jesus as a splendid king (Isaiah 9 and 10). Jesus didn’t come the first time to crush his enemies, but to put himself into the hands of those who would crush him (Isaiah 53). Jesus had to explain to his disciples that the cross must come before the crown.
When the disciples asked Jesus where he was staying, he said, “Come and see” (John 1:39).
When we follow Jesus, he doesn’t show us everything at once. Every day, we must come and see what he has for us.
“We can learn that once we learn about Jesus, we should tell others,” says Anna, 10.
After only one day with Jesus, Andrew told his brother Simon, “We have found the Messiah” (John 1:41). When Jesus saw Simon, he immediately changed his name to Cephas, which means stone or rock. The name Cephas in the Aramaic language is the same as Peter in Greek.
When we follow Jesus, we give up our own identity for one that God gives us. Jesus knew that Simon would change. His testimony that Jesus is the Christ would serve as the foundational rock upon which Jesus would build his church (Matthew 16:13-20).
“Jesus wants everyone to come to him,” says Rebekah, 6. “Jesus has time for everyone and will not say ‘hurry up’ or tell them to go away because he is busy.”
In an age where technology speeds up the way we communicate with each other, it’s hard to imagine a God who has time for us. If we don’t make time to “come and see” Jesus, we’ll never get to know him in a way that motivates us to tell our loved ones about him. Spending quality time with Jesus will result in telling others about him.
“When you are being open and willing to allow people to follow you, it might make them curious,” says Sarah, 11.