John 1:40-42New International Version (NIV)
40 Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41 The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ).42 And he brought him to Jesus.
Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which, when translated, is Peter).
The disciple, Andrew, lived in the shadow of brother Peter. It seemed as though he was content in that position. No sibling rivalry between Andrew and Peter was ever talked about in Scripture, so there was an apparent contentment in position of how he lived life with Jesus for 3 1/2 years.
His very name means, manly. No doubt he was because he was a man of the trades. He worked with his hands being a fisherman. He was bold and decisive. Nothing about him was weak. As a matter of fact, Andrew was driven by the truth.
Andrew was originally one of John the Baptists disciples. He was hanging out with a man who was clothed in camel hair with a leather belt around his waist and who ate locusts and wild honey. He was a man of the back woods kind of guy.
The most remarkable characteristic about Andrew was he saw value in individual people. He valued singled souls. He would bring not crowds, but individuals to Jesus. He was the one who brought the boy who had loaves of bread and fish to Christ.
Andrew’s main legacy was that in order to live a life of effective ministry, it was done with relationship one person at a time. We can learn a lot from the discipleship of Andrew.
How many individual lives are you effecting? Are you making an impact on your spouse, children, co-workers, and friends? Andrew made an impact with each relationship.
Strength and Courage
Michael
