(Mark 2:13-14)
13 And He went out again by the seashore; and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them.14 As He passed by, He saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting in the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me!” And he got up and followed Him.
TODAY'S TAKEAWAY:
God created us because He wanted someone to love, and desires that we come to know Him, personally. Therefore, He created us, each with a soul, which can only be filled by Him, so that we can have a close relationship with Him. But this is a personal choice that we each must make. The Lord God will never force anyone to love Him back, or be obedient.
Well, here we see Levi (Matthew), a tax-collector, who was hated by other Jews because tax collectors not only worked with their enemy (the Romans), but they notoriously charged extra so that they themselves would become very rich. So, I'm very sure that Matthew would have been feeling the guilt of his sins and crimes, feeling very much isolated from most of his community, and realizing that money wasn't enough to make him happy. There must be more to life! And there must be a solution and a way out from all our emptiness, guilt and shame.
God created us because He wanted someone to love, and desires that we come to know Him, personally. Therefore, He created us, each with a soul, which can only be filled by Him, so that we can have a close relationship with Him. But this is a personal choice that we each must make. The Lord God will never force anyone to love Him back, or be obedient.
Well, here we see Levi (Matthew), a tax-collector, who was hated by other Jews because tax collectors not only worked with their enemy (the Romans), but they notoriously charged extra so that they themselves would become very rich. So, I'm very sure that Matthew would have been feeling the guilt of his sins and crimes, feeling very much isolated from most of his community, and realizing that money wasn't enough to make him happy. There must be more to life! And there must be a solution and a way out from all our emptiness, guilt and shame.
All it took was Jesus saying to Matthew, "Follow Me." Done! And he never looked back. In fact, we'll see in the next verses, he invited all his tax-collector friends over to his house so that they could meet Jesus! Having Jesus in our lives is completely life changing, filling us with the Lord's presence, peace, joy, certain hope, and gives us a much, much greater purpose!
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