What do you Want? - July 8, 2010

Good Thursday morning! Don't forget Lodgepole in your prayers; they are still having flooding problems over that way. Of course, many of us would like to have a farm with a creek running through it. Yesterday, a lot of farms had creeks running through them, and they weren't so happy about it. What is usually a dry valley with just a few reminders of a creek, now has three or four distinct channels with , get this, rapids! I know 'cuz I have pictures of 'em. The gravel roads are washed out all over the county, water is running over the paved links to I-80, and at least as of yesterday, both railroads were down due to washouts. We had a quiet night here, but some folks didn't even get to go home last night. However, God is great, we are alive, and these things can all be fixed or waited out, as the deputy did when his car was washed right off the highway on Tuesday night. We have had quite the adventure over the past couple of days. As with most adventures in real life, we have a big mess to clean up too.

Yesterday, John's disciples took off on him to follow someone else. Today, they get to meet their new master for the first time.

Jesus looked around and saw them following, "What do you want?" he asked them. (John 1:38)

These days we might hear that same question, but have it sound more like, "leave me alone!" Jesus asked the question just as it was intended. What did these two disciples expect from their new master? What do you and I expect to gain from following Jesus? What do you want? We don't start out following a teacher for what we can offer to him or her, we start out to gain something: knowledge, wisdom, a lucrative sports contract, or even a bit of their fame and fortune as a part of the great one's entourage. Remember that at this time, Jesus had offered nothing and had not asked anyone to follow him. John the Baptist pointed out the Messiah and his two disciple took off on him. Andrew and John didn't even get the chance to make an offer of loyalty or undying affection for the new master; they had to first answer his question, "What do you want?"

Bound up in that seemingly simple question could be a few other questions such as: "Why are you here?"; "What do you expect of me?"'; "What do you expect to gain here?"; and, "How far are you willing to go with me?" The two disciples probably wouldn't have been able to answer most of these, they knew so little about Jesus at this time. On the other hand, it is important to know what you or I want when we take off to follow Jesus. Today, we can probably honestly and faithfully answer that we want eternal life with our Lord Jesus. However, when we first came to believe that may not have been so easy to answer. All we might have been able to answer then was that we didn't want any more of the old life without Jesus. Our lives may have been so messed up at the start that when the Good News came to us we grasped at it like a drowning victim will grasp at any object in reach. Andrew and John learned a better answer in time, just as we have grown in Christ in our journey with Him. Tomorrow, we will look at their first answer.

Have a great day in Christ, and try to keep your feet dry today!

Bucky