Today’s Reading: John 1:35-51
These days it is easier for many of us to google any verse out of the Bible and have it at our fingertips in milliseconds as opposed to grabbing the nearest bible at home or maybe at the office. I haven’t personally opened the bible I got when I went through confirmation in, unfortunately, and admittedly, a few years. Why? Because the internet is always in my pocket. But for this reading, I dusted that bible off.
Here is why I love this bible. Like many other bibles, when Jesus speaks the words are in red. That instantly makes reading the scripture change for the better in my eyes. He is speaking and I know it without question. I feel it differently than just black and white. Verse 39, “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.” At the end of verse 43, “Follow me.”
This is Jesus making commands. When I read it, I don’t believe He is saying them sternly or with a temper of course, but rather calm, collective, and confidently. He has said these things to me in my walk and very recently for that matter. Personally, and professionally lately I have found myself in some difficult situations with several different answers with all different types of results. I am an overthinker a lot of the time. Usually, the best answer has been staring me in the face from the beginning, but I wrap around in circles. Then I pray and His voice reaches out, “Follow me”.
My favorite poem that I carry in my wallet is Footprints in the Sand. I feel like so many times it starts between Him and I, “Follow me” and ends with “It was then that I carried you”. Isn’t that just it? Isn’t it that ‘simple’? It isn’t……but we should try to make it that way everyday. Pray, listen, follow and if you see one set of footprints remember, they aren’t yours, they are His.