It’s never about the number of years but the quality of our walk with God and the grace of His election. Our journey with Jesus only begins with an encounter—which is a revelation of His person. Though I have been born again since 2007 and have had cause to reaffirm my dedication multiple times, I didn’t encounter Jesus until 2014 in a Bible school. However, it was in 2017, also in a Bible school and at a youth conference, that was the turning point.

Two days after Jesus’ baptism, leaving for Galilee, he found Philip; he said to him, “Follow me”. Philip, meeting Nathanael, told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. “Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?” Nathanael replied. “Come and see,” said Philip. While Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.” “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you”. Then Nathanael declared, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel”.

Just one moment of encounter was all he needed. Scholars suggest that Philip was under the fig tree, praying and longing for the Messiah to come. When he met Jesus, he recognised the missing piece—the fulfilment of his deepest longing. There is a hollow in every man’s heart that only Jesus can fill: “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power” (Colossians 2:9-10). Until we recognise this truth, we’ll continue searching—yet without satisfaction.

The Samaritan woman at the well, the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb of Jesus, and Saul on his way to Damascus all shared one common thread—a searching, a longing, an emptiness. Within every human soul, there is an innate awareness, a subconscious call to rediscover its true identity—a ‘collective unconscious’, yearning for fulfilment. But whoever believes in HIM shall not be lost in darkness but have the God-kind of life.