Different Types of People, Same Jesus
God uses many different people to do His work. It is amazing the men he called to be His closest followers. He called fishermen, tax collectors, a political activist, and a thief. Jesus never let their pasts get in the way of the future He knew was ahead of them.
To Levi, the tax collector, Jesus said “Follow me.” (Mark 2:14). To Peter and Andrew Jesus said, “Follow me, I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19). To all, Jesus says, leave the past behind and follow up. In Mathew 16 (NLT) Jesus says, “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”
No matter our past, good or bad, we are to leave it all behind to follow Jesus. That means our old ways of doing things are gone and our old ways of thinking of ourselves are gone. As we show in baptism, we are dead to our old selves, washed clean by the blood of Jesus, and made a new creation when we choose to follow Jesus.
Oftentimes when a church starts something like Celebrate Recovery, people may say things about “those people” coming to church. The scripture shows that the apostles were “those people” before Jesus called them to follow Him. In fact, I’d suggest each of us is included in “those people”. Those people who are saved by grace. Made new because of Jesus. Washed clean because of His blood.
Be blessed and be a blessing,
Matt
To Levi, the tax collector, Jesus said “Follow me.” (Mark 2:14). To Peter and Andrew Jesus said, “Follow me, I will make you fishers of men.” (Matthew 4:19). To all, Jesus says, leave the past behind and follow up. In Mathew 16 (NLT) Jesus says, “Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If any of you wants to be my follower, you must give up your own way, take up your cross, and follow me. If you try to hang on to your life, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake, you will save it.”
No matter our past, good or bad, we are to leave it all behind to follow Jesus. That means our old ways of doing things are gone and our old ways of thinking of ourselves are gone. As we show in baptism, we are dead to our old selves, washed clean by the blood of Jesus, and made a new creation when we choose to follow Jesus.
Oftentimes when a church starts something like Celebrate Recovery, people may say things about “those people” coming to church. The scripture shows that the apostles were “those people” before Jesus called them to follow Him. In fact, I’d suggest each of us is included in “those people”. Those people who are saved by grace. Made new because of Jesus. Washed clean because of His blood.
Be blessed and be a blessing,
Matt
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