John 1:38
When the 2 disciples heard him say this they followed Jesus. Turning around Jesus saw them following him and asked them “what do you want”
That’s the question. It’s the first, last and most fundamental question of Christian discipleship. Jesus doesn’t encounter Mathew and John or you and me and ask “What do you know?” he doesn’t even ask. “What do you believe?” He asks “what do you want”. This is the most incisive piercing question Jesus can ask of us precisely because we are what we want. Our wants and longings and desires are at the core of our identity and the well spring from which our actions and behavior flow.
So discipleship is more a matter of hungering and thirsting than knowing and believing. Jesus command to follow him is a command to align our loves and longings with His- to want what God wants, to desire what God desires to hunger and thirst after God and crave a world where he is all in all. Jesus is a teacher who doesn’t just inform our intellect but forms our very loves. You are what you love.
An excerpt from a book titled ;You are what you love by James K.A. Smith
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