pastorjohnb

Thoughts and musings on faith and our mighty God!

Tag Archives: relationship


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Come and See

In the Gospel lesson for today, John the Baptist sees Jesus and proclaims him the Lamb of God. As Jesus passes by two of John’s disciples follow Jesus. As they do Jesus asks them what they want but instead of answering they ask him where he is staying. His response isn’t an answer either, but an invitation: “Come and see.”

This is what Jesus says to us too: ” Come and see.” It is what we are called to say to others as well. We are called to evangelize – to share the good news. For many this is a scary word. But we need to realize that our call is not to sell Jesus or to convince someone they have to go “all in.” We must simply enter into people live’s and say, come and see.

It may be saying, “Hey, can I tell you about Jesus and what he has done for me?” Or it may be stepping into a need and loving your neighbor. It may simply be living your life as an example of what it means to be a Christian. Ultimately, it is about drawing people in so that they can come and see who Jesus is.

In the devotional I read this morning there was a great analogy. It spoke of our relationship with Jesus as a series of concentric circles. Each layer a bit closer to Jesus. When we invite others to ‘come and see’ we are asking them to step one circle closer, not to leap all the way to the middle. May our words, actions, and deeds today help people to come and see Jesus, to draw closer to the Savior of the world.


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All Those in the Middle

“He must become greater; I must become less.” That really is the crux of the matter for us as followers of Christ. How do we come to be able to say that about everyone – that our wife, our kids, our friends, that homeless person – that they get considered before we consider ourselves? To know that as Jesus becomes the Lord of our life, we become less and less?

That’s hard to do! But we see in John 1 an example to follow. John the Baptist drew people out into the wilderness to hear his message of repentance. Lots of people. Many who heard him stepped out into the water to be baptized. Pretty heady stuff! I wonder if I could be so humble. I wonder if I’d drift off into the “Look how well I am doing!” mentality and become self-absorbed. It is hard to keep a humble perspective when we are successful and popular.

Yet in spite of the crowds John continues to proclaim Jesus and continues to point toward Him. John realized his call in life was to draw people toward Jesus. He also knew that as Jesus’ ministry grew his own would decline. “He must become greater; I must become less.” And John was absolutely, 100% happy to say that. And he meant it!

As our faith deepens and the relationship with Christ becomes THE relationship in our life, we too can come to say those words of John – I must become less. As we humbly kneel at the foot of the cross and look up into the loving eyes of Jesus, we ask, “What can I do for you today Lord?” As we enter our worlds today, may we seek to be the lesser – to treat all as somewhere between Christ and ourselves.