“Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, ‘What do you want?’ … ‘Come,’ he replied, ‘and you will see.'”

Tell. Force. Do: That’s how we normally try to change people.

Leadership expert Robert Quinn argues that our default approach is simple: first tell people why they need to change. If that doesn’t work, find a way to force them. We see it in parenting, marriage, the workplace—even in ourselves. We lecture. We pressure. We try to win through strength. More often than not, it creates resistance instead of transformation.

Jesus takes a completely different approach.

The first recorded words of Jesus in John’s Gospel are not a command, but a question:

“What do you want?”

Before telling these men anything, Jesus invites them to examine their own hearts. What are you really looking for? What are you hoping will satisfy you? What is still missing in your life? Where are you dissatisfied?

Only then does He extend a simple invitation:

“Come, and you will see.”

No force. No manipulation. Just an invitation to spend time with Him.

That afternoon changed everything. Two ordinary men left as different people because they were willing to admit that what they already had was not enough. They accepted Jesus’ invitation, and through them the Gospel spread throughout the world.

Robert Quinn writes, “People who are inner-directed and other-focused are usually full of energy.” Jesus doesn’t simply call disciples to change their own lives. He changes them so they can become agents of change in the lives of others. Changed people become change agents who help change the world.

That same invitation is extended to us today.

We cannot spend an afternoon in a house with the physical Jesus, but we have something generations of believers never did—the Scriptures in our own hands. Every day we have the opportunity to sit with Christ, listen to His words, and allow Him to reshape our hearts.

Discipleship is the lifelong process of being transformed—allowing the old self to fall away as Christ forms something new within us.

The question is not whether Jesus is willing to change you. The question is whether you are ready to be changed. What area of your life needs to change?

Click this link to access a 24 week introductory reading plan to start spending 15 minutes a day with the Lord.