Come and See

John who baptized and preached repentance in preparation for the Kingdom one day told John the son of Zebedee and Andrew the brother of Peter that Jesus is the Lamb of God. John and Andrew therefore followed Jesus when He passed by them. Jesus turned to them and asked what they were looking for. Their response was they wanted to know where He was staying.

He invited them to “Come and see.”

Jesus called Philip to follow Him. Philip invited Nathanael. Nathanael asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” when Philip told him where Jesus grew up.

Philip invited him to “Come and see.”

Jesus invites us to know and to be and to do more on days. To draw closer to Him. To throw away more wasteful possessions or habits or relationships. The invitation is rarely in the form of a contract, which we can read and weigh and base our decisions on. His invitations are frequently “After you follow, you will see where we are going.”

Some invitations are wasted on us, because we are so committed to John that it seems like abandonment to leave and follow Jesus. All of us are believing and doing things that need to be changed or replaced. We don’t know it yet, or we would have already changed. When we are told to move along to what’s next, we need to be willing to “come” and then to “see.”

So then, my dear friends, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to will and to act for His good purpose. Do everything without grumbling and arguing, so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world.
(Philippians 2:12-15 HCSB ©®)