Key Thought

"Come and see for yourself!" What Christianity has to offer the world that no other religion really has is two-fold: 1) a genuine relationship with Jesus, God who walked among us; and, 2) grace that makes us acceptable to God rather than having to earn divine approval. If you really want to decide about Christianity, or you have a friend that is wrestling with a similar decision, don't let them get lost in all the religious debate. Instead, invite them to come and meet Jesus in the Gospel of John. The invitation to "come and see" is repeated several times in John 1. Meeting Jesus in John won't answer all the questions, but it will point us to the only true answer -- Jesus! So if you're doubting, if you're frustrated with the mess that organized religion sometimes makes, if you want to get past the religious hype into the life of God, then heed the invitation Jesus and his disciples give you to "come and see" who Jesus really is. Begin your own search. Find out for yourself. Seek and you will find!

Today's Prayer

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O Father, glorious and holy and mighty, thank you for becoming accessible to me through Jesus. I confess that I sometimes struggle with my faith because of all the imperfections in myself, in your people, and in our churches. However, I thank you for Jesus and his grace, both of which allow me to be your child and know your love even though I am a flawed person living in a flawed world. In Jesus' name, I thank you for your grace. Amen.

Today's Verses in Context

The next day John was there again. John had two of his followers with him. John saw Jesus walking by. John said, "Look, the Lamb of God !" The two followers heard John say this, so they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw the two men following him. Jesus asked, "What do you want?" The two men said, "Rabbi, where are you staying?" ("Rabbi" means "Teacher.") Jesus answered, "Come with me and you will see." So the two men went with Jesus. They saw the place where Jesus stayed. They stayed there with Jesus that day. It was about four o'clock. These two men followed Jesus after they heard about Jesus from John. One of these two men was named Andrew. Andrew was Simon Peter's brother. The first thing Andrew did was to go find his brother, Simon. Andrew said to Simon, "We have found the Messiah." ("Messiah" means "Christ. ") Then Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at Simon and said, "You are Simon, the son of John. You will be called Cephas." ("Cephas" means "Peter. ") The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. Jesus found Philip and said to him, "Follow me." Philip was from the town of Bethsaida, the same as Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and told him, "Remember what Moses wrote in the law. Moses wrote about a man that was coming. The prophets wrote about him too. We have found him. His name is Jesus, the son of Joseph. He is from Nazareth." But Nathanael said to Philip, "Nazareth! Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Philip answered, "Come and see." Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him. Jesus said, "This man coming is truly one of God's people. There is nothing false in him." Nathanael asked, "How do you know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you when you were under the fig tree. That was before Philip told you about me." Then Nathanael said to Jesus, "Teacher, you are the Son of God. You are the King of Israel (God's people)." Jesus said to Nathanael, "I told you that I saw you under the fig tree. That is why you believe in me. But you will see muchgreater things than that!" Jesus also said, "I tell you the truth. You will all see heaven open. You will see 'angels of God going up and coming down' on the Son of Man. "

— John 1:35-51 (ERV)

Easy-to-Read Version copyright © 2001 by World Bible Translation Center. All rights reserved.