“The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, “Follow me.” John 1:43
This passage from the Gospel of John has always fascinated me and again drew me deeper into these words when an online morning Bible study group discussed these words of our Savior. A couple of things grab at my question button; Jesus finding, Jesus saying ‘follow me’ and then our own free will. Jesus found Philip, found you, found me and found this child in Haiti. Our Savior who later called himself the ‘Good Shepherd’ came to earth to look for the lost sheep; came to seek and save the lost. It should make each of us feel really special that the Son of God came to earth and looked for us and after a period of time found us.
We didn’t go looking for Him; we cannot on our own do that as too often we don’t know where to look. Too often our ‘free will’ points us into directions away from Him and into places that are deeper and darker where we can hide from Him. Why do you suppose Philip dropped what he was doing and went with Jesus when told to ‘follow me’? Perhaps he had nothing to do but probably because he realized Who this was who had found him, at that point in history. Philip had heard about the coming of the Messiah and was waiting and what a ‘God moment’ in his life to have the Savior find him.
Jesus found you and is calling to you to ‘follow’. You, I and this child from Haiti have been found and told to ‘follow Christ’ and become shepherds and seek and save the lost. Don’t let your free will tell you that your life is not capable of seeking lost souls or bring them to Christ. He is with you and the Holy Spirit is nudging you where you happen to be today.
And finally, there is that point in your journey when Jesus will call you home. Your free will card will do you no good on that day. He found you; He called you and He will take you home one day and you and this child from Haiti will sit at the feet of the Good Shepherd and bask in His glory.
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you,
Jay