By Andrew Williams – September 24, 2021
Good morning fellow disciples.
To choose means: “to select freely and after consideration, to have a preference for, or to take an alternative”.
Again the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look! The Lamb of God! ” The two disciples heard him say this and followed Jesus. When Jesus turned and noticed them following Him, He asked them, “What are you looking for? ” They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are You staying? ”
John 1:35-38 HCSB
In this passage, we see two disciples who are faced with making a choice. Do they choose to stay with John and be his disciples or, do they choose to follow Jesus and become His disciples? John the Baptist proclaimed the truth about Jesus and John’s disciples would have known that John was not the Messiah, so when he pointed out the Messiah these two disciples realized that they had to make a choice.
Are you religious, believing in God, and adhering to what your religious organization teaches, but you don’t KNOW God? If you are now given the chance to KNOW God intimately by leaving your religious organization to “follow” God, what would you do?
John the Baptist was preaching about the way to get to God, but then God showed up in the person of Jesus Christ. These disciples realized that, based on John’s testimony that Jesus was the better person to be discipling them in the ways of God. We see in later passages that John’s and Jesus’ ministries operated side by side for a while, which means that not all of John’s disciples chose to follow Jesus and become Jesus’ disciples.
Today, who will you choose to follow: someone who leads you into a religious system, or someone who leads you to God? Will you follow someone who helps you to become a member of a church or someone who helps you to become a member of the family of God? Will you follow someone who can only make you a convert or someone who can make you into a true disciple of Christ?
Prayer: Father God Your way is the best. Jesus proclaimed it, taught it, lived it, and made disciples who were tasked to continue making disciples for Your kingdom. There are so many different religions I could follow, but I don’t choose to follow any of them.
I CHOOSE TO FOLLOW YOUR WAY FATHER GOD! I CHOOSE TO FOLLOW JESUS! I will live my life obedient to You God. Amen.