Everyday Jesus By Greg Laurie
C.S. Lewis observed that even atheists have moments of doubt. Maybe you have begun to doubt your doubts. Maybe you have begun to wonder about the meaning and purpose of your life. Maybe you are wondering, Can God change someone like me? Well, the answer is yes. He can and He will.
In the Bible there is a story of a man whose life was radically changed. His name was Matthew, and he was a tax collector. Being a tax collector meant working for the Roman government. But Matthew was a Jew, so he was seen as a traitor, because Rome was the occupying force in Israel at that time. He was seen as a collaborator with the enemy, a turncoat, someone who had abandoned his people. To be a tax collector in that culture was the worst thing you could do. Think of an ambulance-chasing lawyer mixed with a used-car salesman who works as a telemarketer at night, and that is the idea of how a tax collector would have been viewed in the first century.
Matthew probably thought Jesus never would call someone like him. But then his life changed, and his world was rocked when Jesus said two words to him: “Follow Me” (Matthew 9:9). And Matthew got up and followed.
That night, Matthew invited Jesus and His disciples to be His dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and other notorious sinners. He had his life impacted by God and wanted to tell his friends. Matthew was a successful man. He was a wealthy man. Being a tax collector for Rome meant that not only would he be paid by the government, but he could add to the taxes he collected from others and become very wealthy.
Matthew had reached the pinnacle of success, yet there was something lacking in his life. He had money. He had power. But he was lonely. And he was looking for the meaning of life. He had gone out of his way to offend his fellow Jews and even to offend God himself.
In the same way, there are people today who go out of their way to be offensive, to live a radical life – just to get a little attention from other people. Maybe they were turned off by church. Maybe a pastor or a minister or a priest somehow misrepresented God to them, and they don’t want anything to do with Christians.
But Jesus did not say, “Follow My people.” Rather, he said, “Follow Me.” And Jesus never will be hypocritical. He never will be inconsistent. He will be everything that He has promised to be.
Does that mean it is necessary to give up something to follow Jesus Christ? The answer is yes. It means giving up emptiness and loneliness and guilt and the ever-present fear of death. In its place, Jesus will give fulfillment and friendship and forgiveness and the guarantee of heaven when we die. It is God’s trade-in deal for us, because Jesus is still saying, “Follow Me.”
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