Looking...
Jesus had just finished teaching and feeding the five thousand. He had
sent His disciples on a boat ahead of Him and then walked on water to meet up
with them. Then this happens:
“When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus” – John 6:24
CSB
When the crowd did not find Jesus they went looking for Him.
I hear people talk about looking for a better job, looking for that
perfect someone, or looking for a good deal on something they want to buy.
It is rare that I hear someone saying they are looking for Jesus. People
will say they have found Jesus, are born again, state they are believers, and
more. It is almost like people believe once they found Jesus they are done. Is
there some truth to that? Absolutely! We do not need to be saved over and over
again, but just because we have found Jesus once does not mean we stop looking
for Him.
The people who were looking for Jesus in verse 24 above, had spent the
day before with Him. They had eaten the bread He had given them, they heard Him
teach, they had already found Him once and they went looking for Him again. It
was not some cursory look or half an attempt to find Jesus, they got into their
boats and sailed and rowed.
Rowing a boat is physically taxing and while sailing is not as bad, it
is still a lot of effort. These people put forth a lot of effort to look for
Jesus and they had already ‘found’ Him.
If you keep reading in John chapter 6, you will find that those that
looked for Jesus found Him and heard one of His hardest teachings about Him
being the bread of life. After hearing the teaching about needing to partake of
the bread of life we find in verse 66 that many disciples turned back and no
longer followed Jesus. Yet the true believers continued on following Him.
If you are a believer, how much effort do you put in every day to look
for Jesus? Is reading the Bible, praying, and being a witness a priority for
your day? Are you putting forth the effort needed to keep Jesus front and
center, to ‘Find’ Him every day?
It was not easy for those who ate the bread to track down Jesus the
next day, and it is not going to be easy to look for Jesus in every situation
we are faced with. It will take effort. It will take commitment to read the
Bible even when you are tired. It will take dedication to pray every day, even
for those who drive you crazy. It will take boldness to be a witness. Life is
going to get in the way, you will not like everything you hear and the Word of
God works to change you, and you will not always be successful when being a
witness.
Being committed, dedication, and bold while looking for Jesus everyday
will not be easy, but it is well worth the effort.
If you do not know Jesus, I want to encourage you to keep looking. You
may have heard about Him from a friend, you may have witnessed some hateful,
hypocritical, or downright ugly behavior from people who state they are
Christians. Do not let this stop you! Remember we are all human and even those
of us who are Christians are flawed. We make mistakes, we have bad days, we say
bad things, and guess what? We keep looking for Jesus because He Loves Us! You
may not realize it yet, but Jesus also Loves You!
“The Lord does not delay his promise, as some
understand delay, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish but all to
come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 CSB
Jesus is patiently waiting for you to knock on His door out of Love. He
does not want you to perish and He does not want to spend eternity without you.
What He wants is to show you how much He loves you, but you need to make the
next step.
“For God loved the world in this way; He gave his one and only Son, so
that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” John
3:16 CSB
Put forth the effort to look for Jesus and if you believe you receive
the amazing gift of eternal life in His presence.
Don’t let anything keep you from looking for Jesus everyday of your
life!
Robert
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