Daily Devotions
March 8th, 2012 by Pastor SolleyMatthew 9:9-13
9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him. 10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners? 12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. 13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Earlier we looked at some who knowing who Jesus Christ is still desired that He leave them alone. They rejected the Son of God knowingly after seeing a great miracle. Perhaps the reason they did this is found in our reading today. When people received Jesus Christ they knew it was going to cost them something because they were going to give all to Christ. From the moment Matthew met Jesus his life changed forever. When Matthew “Arose and followed Him” he believed on Jesus Christ, knew He was and is the Messiah of Israel, repented from sin and gave all to Jesus. The reason Jesus is sitting in his house is because Matthew was bringing those he knew to Christ and he had to do it then because he was leaving to follow Jesus. He gave all to Jesus. And even if Matthew would not have followed the Lord, if he had stayed where he was his life was still changing forever. No longer would he do the things he used to do, no longer would he go where he used to go, his life was changing because of Jesus. It seems today that people want Jesus but they don’t want to change. I can tell you of many who attend liberal churches because those churches as they say “Accept them as they are”. They say they can have Jesus and keep their alcohol, keep the bars and the dances, just stay the way they are. Jesus wants us to come to Him just the way we are, He came to save the lost, not to watch the lost save themselves. But when one comes to Christ, Christ changes them, He does not want us to remain the way we are. Some in the gospels wanted Him to depart because they did not want to change. At least we know where they stood. Many today claim to have Him and still live a life of worldliness and sin and we have no idea where they really are. Friend, if you say you have Him today then live for Him today.