Andrew had a lot of faith. He trusted John, and when John said, “That’s the man”, he trusted Jesus as well. Fair enough. They both convinced him that they were trustworthy, but still, Andrew gave up everything in his life back home to follow first John and then Jesus. He had ‘eternal’ focus on life. He got ‘it’!
Even so, he didn’t have it easy. He was quickly convinced of the need to sacrifice his life, and not do the things he wanted to, instead doing God’s things. But then, when he thought he was doing God’s will by following John, John told him that he should be following a different man.
Had he been following the wrong man? Had he been wasting his time? Gutted.
But when he is feeling his lowest, John says, “Go on! There he is. Follow him!” And he does.
And when he is following Jesus and Jesus asks him, “What do you want?!!” he asks in return, “Where are you going? Should I be following you, are you going where I need to be, where God wants me?”
Direction
Andrew has drive, he has faith, he has motivation and he follows God’s plan in his life rather than his own agenda. God convinces him to follow one man. Cool. This chap tells him to follow another. Done.
But it wasn’t necessarily easy for him – he must have been frustrated with the lack of action; with that much drive, the pace of things must have been really slow.
But remember, Jesus had to sit on earth for about 30 years before he could reveal himself. The God who made the world, the God who came to save it spent 15-odd years building houses, fitting kitchens, putting up fences, etc. How much more right to be frustrated do you think he had?!
Waiting to get on
He was quickly convinced of the need to sacrifice his life, and not do the things he wanted to, instead doing God’s things.
Sometimes we want to get on, we want things to happen, we want to re-ignite the church, and we want Christ to return. But we have to wait. These things happen, but in God’s time.
And like Andrew, searching for the Messiah, driven for God’s kingdom, eventually he found him, eventually he played his part; he carried out God’s will in his life. If we have patience, if we have faith, if we follow God, we will be used.
Read about Andrew’s first encounter with Jesus in John 1:35–42.
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