***Listen To Audio Version: Come and See Audio 597
Today’s Devotional Scripture: “He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.”
- John 1:41 (KJV)
The Message For Today (July 21, 2026):
***Listen To Audio Version: Come and See Audio 597
“You Mommy Is Here!” Come and See.
One of my children had a fever last week, so school was off, and everybody was home. My three-year-old woke up from his nap, and his big sister carried him downstairs and set him up in his chair to eat before he ever saw me. When I finally walked out, he lit up in his whole face, whole body, arms reaching in pure sunrise. His mama was in the room, and the room changed.
But he did not stop at his own joy. When his fourteen-year-old sister came back downstairs, he grabbed her arm, pointed at me, and announced in his best three-year-old grammar, “Mallo-wie (Mallorie), you mommy is here!” (And no, that is not a typo: “you mommy” is exactly how he says it, and I refuse to correct something that precious.)
He needed her to see me. More than that, he wanted to watch her light up the way he just had. He kept looking back and forth between us, tugging her arm, waiting for the sunrise to happen on her face too. (She is fourteen. The sunrise was, let us say, delayed.)
I have thought about that little scene all week, because it is the first chapter of John’s Gospel playing out in my kitchen.
Two disciples were standing with John the Baptist when Jesus walked by, and at John’s word, “Behold the Lamb of God”, they left John and followed Him (John 1:36–37). Jesus turned and gave them the invitation that echoes through the whole chapter: “Come and see” (John 1:39).
They came. They saw where He dwelt. They abode with Him that day. And one of them, Andrew, did exactly what my three-year-old did in that chair: he could not sit alone in his own joy. “He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias” (John 1:41).
Seeing Jesus created a joy so full it had to grab an arm. Andrew’s first instinct was not to savor; it was to share. Found Him? Go find your brother.
That is a child’s joy. It does not know how to stay private. Somewhere on the way to grown, we learned to see God move and keep it respectable, to be blessed quietly. But the child and the new disciple both know better: joy is not finished until somebody else lights up too. Even John wrote his letters for that very reason: “that ye also may have fellowship with us… that your joy may be full” (1 John 1:3–4).
Told joy is full joy.
Now watch Mallorie’s side of the story, because it is in the same chapter. Philip runs to Nathanael with the news. Same message, same excitement: “We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write” (John 1:45). And Nathanael does not light up. “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). Somebody else’s sunrise was not enough for him. Philip does not argue with him; he simply repeats the invitation of the chapter: “Come and see.”
And when Nathanael comes, Jesus does something no argument could do. “Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee” (John 1:48). Alone, unobserved, in his private place… and Jesus had seen him there.
Nathanael’s whole guard fell at once: “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel” (John 1:49). His joy did not ignite at the news about Jesus. It ignited the moment he learned Jesus had ALREADY seen him.
Two joys in one chapter. Andrew’s joy came from seeing. Nathanael’s came from being seen. And the Lord honors both.
He does not scold the Nathanaels for needing more than a secondhand report. He meets them at their fig tree and tells them what He saw.
Some of us reading this are Andrews: we have seen Him, and our assignment today is to grab an arm. Say it plainly to somebody: Your Savior is here!
And some of us are Mallories and Nathanaels: we have heard everyone else’s testimony and stayed politely unmoved, because what our heart is starving for is not more information about Jesus. It is the moment we discover He knows our fig tree.
He saw us in the private place: the one where we prayed, or cried, or gave up. He can tell us all about it. And when He does, the only thing left to say is what Nathanael said: Thou art the Son of God.
My little one kept tugging her arm because he understood something we forget: the celebration is not complete until every child in the house has seen. Neither is heaven’s.
PRAISE GOD, BECAUSE “I SAW THEE” CAME BEFORE “FOLLOW ME.”
Closing Devotional Prayer
My prayer for you:
Father, make me like the child who cannot keep the good news to himself. Where I have seen You, give me an arm to grab and boldness to say it plainly. And where my joy has gone quiet, meet me at my fig tree. Remind me that You saw me in the private place, and let being known by You turn me back to worship. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Written by our Tuesday morning writer Marshay Iwu
