Come and See!
“And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.” – John 1:46
“And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see.” – John 1:46
Recently, I was standing in the Beginners Department of our Sunday school during class time. As I looked around the room, I noticed groups of two, three, four, and even five young children in each class, intently watching as their teachers told them the Bible story. The teachers’ faces were animated and their voices rang with excitement as they told the children how Jesus could heal someone who was sick. They were passing on an important message!
Just a few minutes before, we had been assembled in the main sanctuary and listened as the names of twenty-nine young people were called. These young people were rewarded for participating in a “bring a friend” contest that had just concluded.
These two instances brought to mind the fact that in many cases, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is spread through one-on-one contact. The Sunday school teachers were sharing the story with their students. In the case of the Sunday school contest, the children had taken the initiative to invite friends to Sunday school.
In the Bible, the story of Philip is told. He was excited about Jesus so he went and found his friend Nathanael and implored him to “come and see” this One they had searched for.
According to the Great Commission (Mark 16:15), we are all charged to be missionaries. Yet, sometimes we get so caught up in day-to-day life that we might wonder how we can possibly ever make a difference for God. There are so many people in the world lost in sin and we see only a miniscule fraction of those people each day. However, God does not expect us to single-handedly reach the entire world. We are to reach out to those in our world—our neighbors, our classmates, and our families—those in our circle of influence. It is as simple as telling them about Jesus and what He has done in our lives, and inviting them to “come and see.”
When we have the opportunity to share with others what God has done for us, let us seize the moment and tell them what God can do for them!