LifeLink Devotional

Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Is knowing who someone is different than knowing them? Of course. I know who many people are, like politicians and sports heroes, but I don’t personally know any of them. But if I did know them, and interact with them, I would certainly talk about it.

Many times the Bible doesn’t give us as many details as we would like. The story of the interaction between Jesus and His first two followers is one of them. We pick up the story from John 1 right after Jesus asked these two men what they were seeking.

John 1:38-41  And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).

A lot is left to our imagination. These two men were invited to stay with Jesus from about 4:00 PM on into the evening. I wonder what they talked about? Everything would be speculation if it were not for the next thing that happened. Andrew, one of the men, left where they were staying and went out to find His brother Simon. When he found him, he made a statement that indicates what he had learned during his short time with Jesus.

“We have found the Messiah.”

Obviously, during that time with Jesus, Andrew heard enough about Him to establish His identity. Jesus was already moving the disciples from the what to the Who.

When Andrew found Simon, he did not report any details about where they met Jesus, where they stayed, what they had for dinner, or anything else that happened. He reported only on the Who.

“We have found the Messiah.”

There’s our lesson for today. How long does it take other people who meet us to discover that we are followers of Jesus? How much time do we spend establishing rapport based on what we like, what we do, or what we need, rather than on Who we know? Why does it take so long, after meeting Jesus, to start telling others we have met Him and are beginning to know Him?

Imagine how many people could be affected by Jesus if your life were as deeply affected by Christ as was Andrew’s. And Andrew had only known Jesus less than 24 hours.

Pastor John