What Do You Want?

Tonight I went to Party with Jesus for the first time since i've been here at ONU.

Party with Jesus is basically a student led worship night. Music, Scripture, and a short message.

I had never went before tonight, but one of my roommates asked me to go and another roommate was playing in the worship team. So I grabbed my key and a jacket and went.

I am so glad that I chose to go to Party with Jesus tonight. Jordan's message hit me right in the gut. I needed to hear it. And the music was absolutely wonderful!! (And not just because I had friends playing...the songs the picked were perfect!)

Jordan did his message on John 1:35-38.

His focus was on the question that Jesus asked the men that were following Him. He knew they were behind Him and He turned and asked them, "What do you want?" Jesus did not say this in an annoyed voice or our of frustration.

Jesus asked them this question genuinely. He was asking them what they wanted from Him, what they wanted from their relationship with Him.

What are you really following me for?
What do you want to get out of it?
Are you just in it for what I give?
Or are you in it for Me?

What do you want? What do you really want?

Those men that were following behind Him couldn't come up with anything beyond "Where are you staying?" as a response, which ironically does not answer Jesus' question.

Jesus responds by telling them, "Come, and I'll show you." This is in verse 39.

Like those men we do not have the exact answer to that question when we are faced with it, at least not generally, but especially when Jesus is asking it.

What do we really want from Him? From our relationship with Him? Do we really want Him or are we just in it for the benefits?

If we were asked this on the spot by Him, what would our response be?

Likely something similar to that of those two men. We would avoid the question because we don't know the answer.

But here is the thing... Jesus does not turn us away or send us off if we do not have an answer on the spot.

He gives us time to figure it out. We may not know for a while or really ever figure it out completely, but He gives us time to seek Him and find the answer.

We may find it difficult to figure out an answer to that question. What do you want?

We can ask God to show us what we really want. We can ask for that to be shown to us.

I personally do not have an answer in this moment to that question. I do not know what I want. I truly do not know. I am asking that God show me what I want, what I truly want in my heart.

Maybe what I want is what I have though I have wanted the past couple years. Or maybe it is something completely different, something that requires sacrifice to truly follow and pursue.

I do not know what it is, but I know that God knows and that He can show me.

Until then I will continue to seek Him, to grow closer to Him.

What do you want? Are you in it for the things that He gives or are you in it for Him? Would you have an answer immediately or would you need time to think about it, to pray about it?