Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Jesus Sees What We Can Become




It is discouraging to face the critical eye of someone and know that you are going to be criticized for your shortcomings. However, how inspiring it is to be around someone who can see the best in you. Even more encouraging is someone who can see your possibilities when others cannot. Jesus could see the incredible possibilities in people. We have a great example of this in his calling of Levi the tax collector (Luke 5:27-32).

The most amazing thing is that Jesus could see what Matthew (his new name that Jesus gave him) could become even though no one else could, not even Levi. Most of us can’t get past what the person is with all their baggage of mistakes and failures—to believe they could be anything else. When we surrender our hearts and wills to Christ and our sin is washed away in his blood, something wonderful happens. From that moment Christ sees us as flawless. He takes away our sinful and ragged life and clothes us in his righteousness.

Of all the people Jesus could have chosen, Levi was the last person the people of Capernaum would have chosen as Jesus’ disciple. He was hated and despised because he was a dishonest tax collector, but he was exactly the kind of person Jesus came to change. Jesus was making it clear to anyone who was paying attention that he cared about people—any and every kind of people. Already Jesus had called fishermen to follow him and touched a leper that one else would even get close to. Jesus made it clear that he had the power to forgive sin and transform lives when he forgave the sins of the paralytic and healed his crippled body.

Jesus sees what each person can be with his help, and he sees that even when we are lost in our sins. He saw the messed up life of Levi and saw him as Matthew the evangelist, a gift of God to the church. He became the writer of the first gospel. No matter how scarred and horrible we may have messed up our lives with sin, Christ can make something wonderful and beautiful out of it. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesians about this very topic when he penned these words, “For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10).

God is our creator, and He alone knows our ultimate purpose in life. Shouldn’t we consult the manufacturer for the best results? Jesus gave us this invitation to come, and it still stands even today, and notice that it was written by the man, Matthew, who was once so far away from God, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).





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