The next day John was standing there again with two of his disciples, and looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
Then Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, What do you seek?
— John 1:35-38

Have you ever considered this portion of the Scripture? It is quite significant, because here we see the first words Jesus ever spoke to anyone who sought to follow Him; it was a very simple and direct question:

“What do you seek?”

As I mentioned in the previous Note (See “The First Word” • 1), the brother who brought me to the Lord pointed this out to me when I was a new believer in Christ—just a few weeks after I was saved, in fact—and it has been a great help to me ever since. Because, just as the Lord asked that question of the first ones to follow Him, He has asked it of every believer who has followed Him ever since:

“What do you seek?”

Are you truly seeking Christ Himself? Or are you merely looking for some benefit from Him?

“What do you seek?”

If we are coming to Him only for a better life in this age, we may expect Him to provide us with a comfortable living, or hope to gain a good social life in our church fellowship, or look to receive some other kind of outward blessing from Him. If we are more serious with the Lord, we may want some recognition or appreciation for our following of Christ, or to be used by Him in a great way, or to gain some kind of position or fame as those who serve the Lord.

But eventually, if we are seeking something other than Christ Himself as we come to Him, we will be stumbled. Like the seed sown on the stony ground, or that among the thorns, we will not bring any fruit to maturity (Matt. 13:20-22). We may not entirely fall away from Christ, but neither will we go on with Him as we should.

So, personally, ever since that dear brother shared this with me, this question has always been in the back of my mind; and sometimes, it has been with me more consciously in my following of Christ: when I have passed through difficult times in the Lord, or faced a conflict on behalf of the Lord and His testimony, or did not receive what I had hoped from the Lord:

“What do you seek?”

It is a reminder that, when we come to Christ, we must come to Him for the sake of Himself alone. No doubt, He surely will “work all things together” for our good in the end (Rom. 8:28), but along the way it may not be at all what we expect or hope for, until we are finally conformed to His image in glory (Rom. 8:29-30).

This is not to say we must be completely pure in our coming to Christ from the very beginning; just about no one, it seems, is. But if our basic desire is for Christ Himself, then, as we go through the trials and the hardships, instead of being stumbled, the impurities within us will be burned away (1 Pet. 1:7). And then we will know what it means to live for Christ Himself alone, even through the sufferings, so that we may follow Him into glory (Heb. 2:10).

“What do you seek?”

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—  14 December 2024 —