Blackaby did it again to me. Turned my thinking inside out and made a great point I needed.
Here’s the big point & his statement – “We can spend many hours debating and discussing issues related to the Christian life, but this means little if we never actually step out and follow Christ.”
So true – I just feel all refreshed and “Christian” after the Sunday sermon, or even my morning devotionals. And yes, I am right there, debating and sharing, with my friends as we talk about the “Christian pilgrimage”.
What I loved is how he used a not-so-well-known disciple, Andrew, to make the illustration of his point.
Andrew does not have a book in the Bible named after him and I only found 3 scriptures that really talk about him directly. Whereas his brother Peter is very well-known and mentioned all over the New Testament. And Andrew was one of the first disciples to follow Christ – he had been baptized by John the Baptist, and like many others looked to him as their religious leader. Then he heard John the Baptist call Christ the “lamb of God”. Immediately Andrew and another man followed Jesus.
Just like that – everyone had been looking for the Messiah, and there was teaching that He was on earth, and then when their leader John the Baptist pointed him out, Andrew and his buddy just turned around and followed Jesus. It flashes across my mind – would I be so eager? So bold? A seeker of Christ like they were?
OK, so I checked it out in a commentary and it turns out that in the Jewish culture, discipleship entailed physically following one’s teacher or rabbi to receive training. See, Andrew was not so weird, after all. But certainly he knew he wanted to follow the “lamb of God”, the Messiah John the Baptist had been preaching about.
Sure enough, Jesus saw them following him and turned around and asked them “What do you want?” (another version of John 1:38 says “What are you seeking?”)
Their response? “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” That seems like a strange question to me.
But as Blackaby points out, Andrew had listened to John the Baptist and knew of the coming Messiah. Now, suddenly, he was face to face with the One he had yearned to see! He speculates that Andrew’s mind was filled with questions he longed to ask.
But here is the interesting piece – Jesus did not enter into any theological dialogue with Andrew or his buddy – he simply turned and began to walk.
My commentary shares that Jesus’ question had been designed to draw out their commitment. What were they hoping to gain in life by following Christ? And it shed a bit of light on their question about where Jesus was staying – the thought of “staying” or “abiding” with Jesus prepares those who read about this story for the intimate relationship of abiding in Jesus, the True Vine (John 15:1-17)
Sure enough, as you read on in the scripture, Andrew and his companion followed and saw where Jesus was staying and spent the day with him. They probably were filled with questions they longed to ask, but they were simply present with Him.
The very first thing Andrew did after this was to find his brother Simon and tell him “We have found the Messiah” – that is, the Christ. And, of course, he took his brother directly to Jesus (because he knew where he was staying). And that is when Jesus tells Simon he will now be known as Peter (translated as the “rock” which was the opposite of Simon’s impulsive and unstable personality – who knew?). Jesus knew what Peter would “become” as he became his disciple and followed him.
The next part really came home for me because I have been trying to walk alongside someone struggling with accepting a Christian lifestyle as a possibility for her. She keeps asking tons of questions but so far it does not seem the answers have made much impact.
As Blackaby shares about Andrew, it makes me aware of his point. Andrew walked with Jesus and watched him heal the sick, teach God’s wisdom and demonstrate God’s power – Andrew not only learned about God, he actually experienced Him!
Nailing the point, Blackaby says:
Moments will come when you stand at a crossroads with your Lord. You will have a hundred questions for Him. Rather than answering the questions one by one, Jesus may say, ‘Put on your shoes, step out onto the road, and follow Me.’
As you walk daily with Him, Jesus will answer your questions, and you will discover far more than you even knew to ask.
Gives me chills, and “oh, yeah” makes me a little hesitant. Where will He lead me? What will I have to do? OK, I have to go back through my Bible and find all those passages where I put a “P” in the margin. (P stands for Promises). I’m going to need them! I’ll have to make a pair of shoes out of them!
How about you? Where are your shoes?
