"Can anything good come from Nazareth?" John 1:46
Today is the Feast Day of Saint Bartholomew. In the first chapter of John, we see Jesus calling men, "Come, be my disciple!" These men in turn called other men. Philip looked for Nathanael to invite him, and Nathanael was skeptical. "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" Philip's answer can teach us what to say to people who scoff, who are cynical, who doubt. All Philip said was, " Just come and see for yourself." It is not for us to do the convincing, it is God's responsibility!
In U.P. High School, a couple of men from Gideon Bible came and spoke to my class about reading the Bible. Before they gave us these really cute Bibles, they made us promise to read it. I promised, but I stopped a few chapters into it because of some passages I disagreed with. In U.P. College, I was invited to join a Campus Crusade for Christ group. I thought the group was composed of dull students who didn't have friends, but I liked the Australian leader who invited me out for ice cream. She was the one who would say, "Come and see."
After college, I remember that it was my mom who would invite me and my siblings to all the Christian rallies and Bible Studies. It did not matter if it was Catholic or not. I do not know how many times we went to the front to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. I cannot count how many times I joined a Life in the Spirit seminar and was prayed over. After one of those baptisms in the Holy Spirit, the Bible came alive for me. I would read and read and mark almost every line with a yellow pencil.
Lord, thank You for all those people who said come and see in different ways. I have, through the years, seen Your face, and heard Your voice! May I also invite others to experience the fullness of life You offer me every single day!
