December 31, 2017 Sunday

35   The following day John was again standing with two of his disciples. 36   As Jesus walked by, John looked at him and declared, “Look! There is the Lamb of God!” 37   When John’s two disciples heard this, they followed Jesus. 38   Jesus looked around and saw them following. “What do you want?” he asked them. They replied, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?” 39  “ Come and see,” he said. It was about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him to the place where he was staying, and they remained with him the rest of the day. 40   Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of these men who heard what John said and then followed Jesus.

John 1:35-40 NLT

            Here Jesus asks one of the hardest questions any of us will face.  Many will say the hardest question is who are we or where do I come from but I believe the hardest question for us is “What do you want?” 

            Like a child at Christmas we come up with our Christmas list and there are two things that often happen.  First, our desires mean our list becomes hopelessly long or what we want changes by the things shinier than what we saw before!  Second, when we get what we want for Christmas we enjoy playing with the packaging more than the ‘toy’.

            The real problem is that all three of the questions are not only wrong in themselves but they are used by the world and even ourselves to distract us from the real question we should ask, who do I want or whose do I want to be?

            For if we say we want salvation, love or forgiveness than what we are really saying is we not only want God but we want to belong to Him! For it is impossible to receive what God has to offer without first realizing our need for God and accepting Him as our God.

            You may think that you don’t want to belong to anybody nevertheless God!  We can fool ourselves with the illusion of our own independence and our own abilities.  Jesus reminds us over and over that we have only one choice really.  Will we serve sin and the world or will we serve God and His call?

            Who do you choose?  Will you serve God or foolishly think you are serving yourself?