Hello everybody! I haven't talked to you all in a while and I apologize! I have been in Georgia with my sister visiting our grandparents and aunt and haven't sat down and typed a devotion in a while!
Today I am going to be sharing with you some background on one of Jesus' followers Mathew. I love learning about Mathew because the more I learn about him, the more I recognize that God really does want everyone, no matter their background or what they have done, to follow him.
Following God often is thought of to be something that only "good people" do and that is understandable. You walk into church and often times don't see a lot of people who have their bodies covered in tattoos, have pierced tongues, or are pregnant at 16 years old. You, along with myself, probably stereotype Christians as people who seem to have their life together, therefor think it is easy for them to worship God. This however is not how God wants it to be. Jesus wants anyone and everyone to feel welcome to follow him and a clear example of that would be Mathew one of his disciples.
A disciple is someone who is a follower of Jesus and when Jesus was on this earth he had his 12 disciples that followed him and were with him a lot. Mathew was one of the 12 which may sound very strange after I give you some background on this fella! Mathew was at the very least a total disappointment to his parents and they probably, along with his friends, had written him off. The name Mathew in that time meant Levi and to be given that name meant that your family expected you to be a follower of God and be a religious leader as the Levites were in the Old Testament. However, when Mathew tried to become a Rabbi he was turned down.
After this, Mathew made a huge life change and instead of serving the Lord he decided to serve himself and become a tax collector for the Romans. His job basically consisted of unfairly taking money from his people and five it to the Roman government. There was no such thing as an honest tax collector. They stole money to fill their own pockets and were seen as a religious and social outcast.
We all are probably a lot like Mathew. We don't sit at a booth on the side of a busy street and force people out of their money but we have probably made one bad mistake that may have snowballed into the next and soon you don't see the point in trying to turn it around. You give up and soon look at yourself in the mirror and see no hope of changing your life now.
I am assuming that Mathew would have thought he was the last person Jesus would chose to follow him. I am assuming he thought Jesus would never even look at him however, one day when he was sitting at a tax collectors booth Jesus walked up to Mathew. No one knew what he was going to say. Jesus looked at Mathew and said, "Follow me." It is hard to imagine how unthinkable this scenario would have been in those times. However, those two words changed Mathews life forever.
If you didn't read a word I just typed than just know this; Jesus doesn't say "Change, and you can follow me." he says, "Follow me, and you will change."
You may think that you aren't "good enough" to follow Jesus but trust me when I say that anyone and everyone can follow Jesus and we know this from the example of Mathew. God already knows everything you have done and every thought you have thought and still died so you can follow him. All you have to do is pray for him to come into your heart and forgive you of your sins so you may become a Christian, and follower of our perfect and ever so loving God.
What's keeping you from following God? If you have any thoughts or questions always feel free to comment below or email me!
Hope you all enjoyed! Talk to you soon!
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