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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