esus Calls Philip and Nathanael
43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. 45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." 46 Nathanael said to him, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see." 47 Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!" 48 Nathanael said to him, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered him, "Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you." 49 Nathanael answered him, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" 50 Jesus answered him, "Because I said to you, 'I saw you under the fig tree,' do you believe? You will see greater things than these." 51 And he said to him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."
I always find this passage interesting. The group of disciples is beginning to take shape and so far it's a curious group. If you consider who they are and that they are not the big "ringers" of the day it makes you wonder—why these guys? It's not like Jesus is going to the stars and leading people like kings and queens, or the leaders of the Jewish people, or other politically important people that would help to advance a cause or an agenda. The guys that Jesus is calling to follow Him are just kind of, well, mundane. But there is one thing that they have in common—they have a curiosity about them and a willingness to explore, to see who Jesus is, and a desire to take the time to get close to Jesus.
That's the key, isn't it? Deliberately taking the steps to get to know Jesus is the key. Sure, there are times when we're going to fail and fall short, but that shouldn't keep us away from Jesus—it should drive us to Him.
I love how Jesus treats each one of the disciples as they start to follow Him. It's not as if Jesus is vetting them and judging them on their character and actions. No, Jesus just welcomes them—and the same is true for all of us who are willing to continually seek to know Him—Jesus welcomes you.
The key to growing in our faith is knowing Jesus personally is really quite simple: you have to show up and you have to spend time with Him.
How willing are you to daily seek and to spend time to know Jesus more and more?
And when you have those times when you get distracted by your business and the challenges of this life and you realize that you’ve ignored Jesus or taken Him for granted my advice is for you to deal with it directly. Don’t let it be this embarrassing or guilty thing that keeps you from Jesus. Instead, turn to Him and I know that you will find Him waiting for you.
God bless you and know that I am praying for you.
Scott