Daily Devotion

John 1:40-46
⁴⁰ One of the two who heard John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. ⁴¹ He first found his brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which is translated Anointed^[j]). ⁴² He brought Simon^[k] to Jesus

⁴³ The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” ⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” ⁴⁶ Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”

Marge loved to tell the story of how she met her husband George.  It seems when Marge was still in high school her friend Sally invited her to go to the movies one Saturday night.  When they found their seats in the theater, a couple of handsome boys sat in their row.  After the movie the four of them started chatting, and by the end of that conversation George had asked Marge out on a date for the very next day.  The rest, she would say, was history.  In the story Marge would usually include a special nod to Sally.  If it wasn’t for Sally’s invitation she would have never met George!

Sally’s simple invitation changed Marge’s (and George’s) life.  Maybe you have a similar story of a simple invitation that ended up changing the course of your life.  Hopefully when you tell the story, you give a nod to whoever your Sally was! I wonder if Peter and Nathanael, from the Gospel story listed above, ever told the stories of the simple invitations that Andrew and Philip extended to them that ended up changing their lives?  The invitation was simply to come and see Jesus and the rest, they say, is history.

That’s how Jesus set it up, though.  The gospel is spread through simple invitations.  Come and see Jesus.  It really is that simple.  We are supposed to invite others to meet Jesus by asking them if they’d like to join us for worship (just send them the link these days), or for Bible study.  They could see Jesus through our invitation to participate in a service project, or when we offer to pray with or for them.  Someone might see Jesus when we send the daily devotion to them, or introduce them to some of our “church friends.”  It’s really not as complicated as we make it out to be.  Or it seems we think it’s complicated considering how seldom we extend such invitations. 

Maybe it’s just that we think that our simple invitations won’t really make a difference in anyone’s life.  I beg to differ.  Imagine someone who is struggling with guilt, hopelessness or fear.  How might seeing Jesus and his gift of forgiveness and unconditional love, change such a life?  How might a lonely person’s life be changed if we extend an invitation to come and see Jesus by belonging to a church family?  If someone is struggling to find purpose and meaning, how might our invitation to a life of fishing for people renew them?

Over the centuries millions of lives have been changed because of the simple invitation to “come and see” Jesus.  Most of those stories probably gave a nod to a Sally.  Go and be like Sally (or Andrew or Philip).