|
Author
|
Topic: What do you want?
|
Eden
unregistered
|
posted
Found in Him wrote quote:
What if you only get stale bread and dirty water while chained to a prison wall like Paul???
Is He gonna be first then?
I'll let you know after I get out. And don't forget that they also sang songs:
Acts 16:25
And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises to God: and the prisoners heard them.
love, Eden
IP: Logged | 
|
|
Found in Him
Advanced Member
Member # 7596
|
posted
What if you only get stale bread and dirty water while chained to a prison wall like Paul???
Is He gonna be first then?
--------------------
~To Him That is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy...to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.~ Jude 24
Posts: 1503 | Registered: Jan 2009
| IP: Logged |
|
|
Eden
unregistered
|
posted
I think that Mike Taylor's point is well-taken, that Jesus should not be just one of the items in what we want.
Rather it should be that I want Jesus first because I know that, maybe He does have good beer, but I do know He has good wine!
Basically, I get the best of everything within my budget when Jesus has my credit cards.
love, Eden
IP: Logged |
|
|
Found in Him
Advanced Member
Member # 7596
|
posted
What do you want?
By Mike Taylor
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ``Look, the Lamb of God!''
When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, ``What do you want?''
They said, ``Rabbi'' (which means Teacher), ``where are you staying?''
``Come,'' he replied, ``and you will see.''
So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.
— John 1:35-39
We can tell that Jesus thought this was an important question, because we also see him ask it in two other places: in Luke 18:41 he asks it of a blind man who has cried out to him as he's passing by; and in Matthew 20:32 he asks two more blind men the same question.
Well. How about it? What do we want?
Here are some of the things people want:
I want this church to prosper.
I want to be with my family.
I want to play the piano.
I want Liverpool to win the league.
I want You Jesus.
I want to eat good food and drink good beer.
I want to do well in my job.
I want to preach good sermons.
What's wrong with this picture? The problem here is that I have Jesus himself buried somewhere in the middle: more important than some things, less important than others. What's happened is that he's become a part of my life rather than the focus of my life. And that's not something he ever offered to be. Jesus unapologetically demands nothing less than first place in our lives. This is why it's terribly misleading when well-meaning evangelists ask people to ``invite Jesus into your heart'', as though he's supposed to wedge in there alongside the football, beer and dinosaurs. That won't do at all.
That's why Jesus asks Andrew and his buddy what they want. He presumably knows that they've left John the Baptist, who they've been following for some time, to be with Jesus instead. But he's not satisfied with mere hangers-on. He wants disciples. He wants people whose hearts are turned unconditionally, unreservedly, towards him and him alone. People who, in answer to the question ``What do you want?'', simply reply ``You''.
--------------------
~To Him That is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy...to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.~ Jude 24
Posts: 1503 | Registered: Jan 2009
| IP: Logged |
|
|
|
Printer-friendly view of this topic
