Jesus Asks, “What Do You Want From Me?”
What Do You Want From Jesus?
“Jesus stopped and called them.
‘What do you want me to do for you?’ he asked.”
Matthew 20:32 NIV
It is a powerful truth that in surrendering our lives (i.e. our hopes, dreams, past, present, future, fears, insecurities, talents, sins, money, habits, time, possessions, careers, marriages, children, families, accomplishments, wounds, successes, failures, energy, thoughts, actions, hobbies, etc.) to Jesus, we get not only “heaven-then” but also “here-now.”
In other words, when we align ourselves with the God-Man Jesus (not just to follow His ethics but first to worship His Person), we get true eternal life…and that eternal life begins right now!
So as Christ-ones, Jesus doesn’t invite us to sit around doing nothing while staring at the sky seeing if heaven will descend, waiting for Him to return, hoping for someone to do something.
Rather, Jesus draws and equips us to push back the night, to be salt and light in a world that is rotting and dark, to become who He made us to be and to do those things for Him that are impossible for us to do without Him!
And so in the 14+ years that I have been following Jesus as my Savior and my God, as He helped me simply to say “yes!” to His free offer of settling the business of my sin-debt and establishing where I will spend eternity (in heaven with Him forever!), here are some of the ways I have answered His question above from Matthew 20:32—I have asked Jesus to:
A. Help me to know Him personally and profoundly;
B. Heal me of my past wounds (those self-inflicted and those caused by others);
C. Soothe my anger/temper towards my children in particular and towards the world in general;
D. Calm my fears/anxieties (of which there are MANY!);
E. Grow in me a desire to read the Bible consistently;
F. Enable my Mom and I to have a healthy relationship (i.e. I had to apologize for A LOT of selfish behavior!);
G. Guide me in supporting my wife more consistently at home (e.g. loving her through my actions, not just my words);
H. Bless me with a Corvette someday—hey, He’s my Dad, so no request is off-limits…all He can do is say “No”!
Now, I’ve neither heard God’s audible voice nor has He yet finished with any of these huge issues in my life, though He has helped me take major ground in all of them and others. But I am not going to simply wait for my earthly term to finish or bide my time until I’m in heaven. I refuse for my character to be the same today as it was five years ago, to be the same five years from now as I am today. I want to shine and soar—loving God and loving others—in order to increase Jesus’ fame around the earth. That’s what He made us to do, and nothing less will ever truly satisfy.
So what do you want Jesus to do for you?
QUOTE
“Fundamentally, our Lord’s message was Himself.
He did not come merely to preach a Gospel; He himself is that Gospel.
He did not come merely to give bread; He said, ‘I am the bread.’
He did not come merely to shed light; He said, ‘I am the light.’
He did not come merely to show the door; He said, ‘I am the door.’
He did not come merely to name a shepherd; He said, ‘I am the shepherd.’
He did not come merely to point the way;
He said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.’”
J. Sidlow Baxter
For Further Study:
-Ephesians 2 (New Identity)
-Ephesians 5 (Living for God)
-Colossians 1:3-14 (Maturing)
-1 Peter 2:9-12 (Following Jesus)