Be Open and Engaging
Matthew 9:9-10 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples.
Can I ask you today, just to picture the face of the person who’s causing you the most grief, the most pain, the most problems in your life right at the moment. Okay … do you have their image in front of your eyes?
So now, let me ask you, yesterday, how did you respond to that person? In your heart, in your mind? What thoughts have been running through your head about them? What scenarios, what responses, what reactions have been playing themselves out over and over again in your head? And in your heart, how do you feel about that person right now?
I’m guessing that there are a few answers there that you’re probably not all that comfortable with. Perhaps those questions have taken you to a place where you’d rather not be.
Because when people sin against us, we harden our hearts toward them and close off our lives. So – and here’s my final question for you today – how did Jesus react to exactly those people?
As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. (Matthew 9:9-10)
Tax collectors were the scum of the earth back in those days. They were fellow Jews who colluded with the Roman authorities to extort exorbitant tolls from people who passed by their tax collection booth on the road. So not only did they collude with the enemy who occupied and oppressed their land, they lined their own pockets at the very same time. No wonder they were hated and despised.
But Jesus, instead of shunning them, invited one of them to become one of His disciples, and then, then He went and had dinner with a bunch of these sinners. With the very same people who were hated and shunned by good, God-fearing Jews.
Read on and you discover He copped quite a bit of criticism for it. But His take on it, was that it was exactly for people like them, that He’d come to this earth. To save them.
And, let me be blunt here, if you believe in Jesus, if you claim to follow Him, it’s exactly for people like these that God has put you on this earth – to share the love of Christ with them, so that perhaps, some of them will be saved.
So, back to that one person I had you picturing a moment ago. Your most difficult person. Your tax collector if you will.
It’s that person to whom Jesus has sent you. Be open, be engaging, show them the love that Christ has shown you.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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