Follow Me! Don’t reduce it by adding something to it
Luke 5:27-28 “After this, Jesus went and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow Me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed Him.”
Several insights come to mind as I reflect upon this scripture this morning. Why would Jesus call a tax collector? Why would Jesus call me? Why would Levi say yes? Why would I say yes? How have we made such a black and white question completely gray in our culture today? I think it is interesting that Jesus doesn’t say follow the tradition, follow the religious leaders, follow the country, follow the prophets, etc; Jesus says, “follow Me.” In many ways we have taken this simple and profound call to follow Jesus and fused it together with our own comfortable agenda that we have in fact become like the Pharisees that ask, “why do you eat with sinners?” When we send our children to Christian school to get them away from the public schools are we not resisting the call to eat with sinners and tax collectors? After all, if followers of Jesus do not engage and live within the secular world how will Levi be reached today. We have in many ways tried to build a wall around our “Christian world” to protect it against the attack of secular society and we have lost the call of Jesus and become the Pharisees of today. Jesus didn’t say to Levi, “stay comfortable, keep your allegiance to our lifestyle, try to fit me in when you can, follow only when you have time, make sure you keep your other loyalties and blend them together with me,” no; Jesus said, “follow me!” When we stop engaging the Levi’s of the world, we forget that we too are Levi. When we stop eating with the Levi’s of the world we are not following Jesus, we are not Christian (regardless of what viewpoint we want to argue), and we are in dire need of repentance.
Lord, it is so easy for me to cloudy up the waters of your call. It is so easy for me to point the finger at others and expose how they are not embracing the Levi’s of the world but it is so hard for me to see my own sin. God, thank you for sending me to Fayetteville; it is in this place that you are confronting my sin and making way for the continued redemption of my life. God, please expose the ways of my life that are not engaging the Levi’s of my world. Give me the strength to see them as you see me and to believe in the transforming power of your grace. Forgive your church that uses your name for their own comfort, security, and agenda. Send devoted followers to us Lord that will keep your profound call simple and follow you. Make me into the kind of man today that refuses to pledge allegiance to anything other then following you. Protect me from being manipulated into reducing your gospel to two or three hot button issues within my culture. Inspire me to live a life that resembles you by engaging the brokenness around me through the eyes of redemption and pointing others toward you today. Thank you God for calling me; thank you for giving me the grace to say yes; thank you for keeping me focused; thank you for reminding me to follow you. Amen!!!
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