The Weekly Word – Come and see

By Coulter Page, Pastor, Bethany Alliance Church

There are some things in this world that you just need to see and experience to believe.

The birth of a baby is something hard to wrap your mind around until you have witnessed your own child being born. Traveling to a new and foreign place is an experience that is hard to understand until you have done it yourself.

The bitter cold of an Arctic blast is little more than stories until you have lived through it. The list could continue of things you need to see and experience to believe.

Just as so many of life’s moments are something you must see and experience to believe, so, too, is seeing and experiencing Jesus for yourself something you must do to believe.

That is why Jesus’ first invitation recorded in the Gospel of John is as simple as, “Come and you will see.” (John 1:39) When Jesus enters the scene, he meets his first soon-to-be disciples. In the exchange with them, he says those five words, and they take him up on the offer and never look back.

These disciples see and experience Jesus for themselves. They personally see Jesus as John’s depiction of him in John 1:1-18: The Word, Life, Light, and the Son of God.

They do not come because of debate or argument. They come to him and stay with him because they personally see and experience him.

The cool part is that they obviously realize just how important it is for people to see and experience Jesus for themselves, because one of the first few disciples reaches out to someone he knows just verses later with the very same invitation. “Philip said to [Nathanael], ‘Come and see.’” (John 1:46)

What am I driving at in all of this?

First, for those of you who have seen and experienced Jesus for yourself, I encourage you to invite someone you know who has not, to come and see Jesus for themselves.

You do not have to have all the answers. You do not need to have the Bible memorized. You do not have to be the perfect Christian. You just have to invite someone to see and experience Jesus as you have. Be like Philip.

For those that may be reading this who have not seen and experienced Jesus yet, I invite you to come and see. Try Jesus for yourself. Read the Bible to see what Jesus has done. Spend some time talking with him through prayer. Join a church family to worship him.

Give Jesus an honest look, and I promise you will experience a God who is worth it. I echo Jesus and Philip’s invitation. “Come and see.” (John 1:46)

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I come to you now wanting to see you. In this moment I am setting aside any previous notions or thoughts I have and simply asking to see Jesus. I am opening my heart, mind, and eyes to take all of you in. I am trusting you to reveal yourself to me. Amen.

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One of the greatest places to see and experience Jesus is within a local church. It is within a family like this that you see real people who have personally seen and experienced Jesus. It is within this family that you can worship with those who have seen him in their own lives. We want to invite you to join our church family and see Jesus with us. Bethany Alliance Church meets on Sundays at 10:02 a.m. both online on our Facebook page and in person at 1100 Clinton St. We would love to see you there.