January 13, 2026 | Be Connected
What Do You Want?
Scripture: John 1:35-39(NIV)
35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”
They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”
39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”
So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.
Devotional
When my children were young, they would follow me around the house - at or under my feet or right behind me all the time. I can remember looking down at them, slightly frustrated and saying, “What do you want?!” I thought of this as I read today’s passage. Two of John’s disciples had decided to follow Jesus, and scripture says is verse 38, “Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?” Jesus was probably not frustrated with them, but the question is the same. “What do you want?” Jesus was trying to get at their real motivation. Were they simply curious or did they truly desire to know Jesus in a more intimate way? I think it’s important to note that these are Jesus’ first recorded words in John’s Gospel - “What do you want?” As followers of Jesus, this could be the most important question we ask ourselves. What am I looking for? Am I following Jesus for the right reasons? Am I simply curious or do I truly desire to know Jesus in an intimate way? What do I want?
We can also look at this passage another way. It’s a wonderful picture of a discipleship journey. First, we FOLLOW. Then we want to KNOW MORE. And then we are inspired to ACT.
We first decide to FOLLOW Jesus. The two men were led to Jesus by John the Baptist. When they heard John describe Jesus as the “Lamb of God”, they understood who he was, and they immediately followed him. God is interested in our response. We can simply follow, or we can desire true fellowship. I also wondered - do we seek and find Jesus or does Jesus seek and find us? I was reminded of the Wesleyan concept of Prevenient Grace - God’s grace that comes before our conscious decision to follow God. God is seeking and drawing us into fellowship before we even know it.
After we decide to follow Jesus, we want to KNOW MORE. The men asked Jesus where he was staying and he responded, “Come and you will see” - an invitation to an intimate relationship with him. An invitation to know him better. Spending time with Jesus is part of discipleship and as we do, we learn more about who he really is. We learn more about what it means to be a disciple.
And as disciples, we are then called to ACT. We are called to “Go and make disciples of all nations.” The important word here is “GO”. Go out into the world and emulate John the Baptist. We should be pointing others toward Jesus.
Follow, Know, Act.
