November 29, 2024 -- Luke 5:27-32 -- Daily Heart Check

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After this he went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” 28 And leaving everything, he rose and followed him.
29 And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. 30 And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” 31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5:27-32 ESV
 
Levi was a collector of taxes for the Roman Government. He was ripping off his own, Jewish, people, who were oppressed by the Romans. He was making himself rich off the misery of others. He was hated by the Jewish people for his collusion with the enemy. Why was he prepared to rip off his people? Maybe he wanted to be rich. Maybe he resented the Jewish religious leadership who were themselves colluding with the Romans so that they could keep their power—like dogs on a lease. They should have put their full trust in the Lord, Who is above every power and lifts nations or casts them to the ground. But I digress. Whatever led him to sin against God, his nation and even against his own heritage was changed the moment he met Jesus.
 
Look what happened. Jesus saw Levi. It is more than a glance. It is a penetrating look that sees the sin, sees the heart and like a physician knows the sickness in his bones. Notice it is Jesus Who goes to Levi, not the other way around. Then Jesus simply commanded, “Follow Me”. The beauty of this picture is found in the verb form, Levi leaving everything, rose and followed Him. There was no hesitation. He was instantly cured of the vices that gripped his heart and motivated his betrayal of his nation and the Living God.
 
Look at the sign of repentance and the full acceptance of Jesus which the passage reveals. Levi hosts a big banquet for other tax collectors. He is sharing his new-found faith. He has access to those sinners in a way no others could. Jesus is the honoured guest, He is present as the highlight of Levi’s new life. He has broken all ties with his past job and any possibility of returning to it. His life is now utterly in the hands of his Lord.
 
Dear fellow believers, following Jesus requires believers to commit to working with God to make a daily inspection of their character—that is Step 4 in the Overcomers workbook. What you are doing and how you are acting is an outflow of whatever it is that your believe about yourself. If you think you are not worthy of Jesus’s forgiveness and love, then instead of truly, deeply, honestly following Him, you will ultimately take a different road. When you daily inspect your heart, your motives, and the reasons you do whatever wrong or sinful things you do, will uncover the places in your mind and heart that need the healing of Jesus.

  • Angry bullies will continue to bully because they don’t really believe Jesus’s words that the meek inherit the earth.

  • Addicts will say Jesus is all that anyone needs, but their return to addictive behaviors shows the heart’s true devotion.

  • Those abused in childhood will not think themselves valued or loved and in turn will not be capable of accepting the love Jesus brings.

  • Gossips insecure will spill secrets thinking this is the way to valued, as bringers of information. Their words, like choice morsels of food, go deep into others and show them to be unreliable and unworthy. Only in Jesus will a man or a woman know their true worth.

Why make this deep, candid inspection of your character? So that anything, no matter how small it might be, will not divert you from following Jesus. Think of a small pebble in your shoe. If you do not immediately remove it, while you walk you will be placing your foot in certain ways so that the pebble will be dislodged from either the ball of your foot or the heel. But the fact is, you will be accommodating the pebble, not walking in step with Jesus.
 
Jesus compares Himself to an earthly physician. No matter how embarrassed you might be about your condition or what part of your body hurts, you must tell your doctor. There is no other way to get the help you need than to let the doctor know the worst about your condition. So it is with Jesus. Let Him know the worst, the most broken, the most painful area of your life. He is the Great Physician—He Who made you, knows how to heal you. No wonder Levi enthusiastically followed Jesus—he found healing.
 
An important note added to this, as your life changes, you will find new areas of need and hurt which require Jesus’s healing touch. Teenagers need Jesus’s healing as they navigate the bewildering world of growth, hormones, and peer pressures. Working people and then retiring people will find their need for Jesus’s healing ministrations to be unique because the circumstances of their life are now new, and those new routines will uncover new areas of need.
 
 
Jesus, I’ve walked with the pebble of sin in my shoe for so long. It is almost a companion and a game to keep it in a place where stepping will not bring pain to my foot, and pain to the knees and hips then my whole body as I continuously adjust to it. As You healed Levi, so blessed Jesus, heal us. And, as You heal me, I pray to You, please, continually remove the pebbles of sin that keep me from walking with You. Spirit of God, help me to trust Jesus enough to bring to Him the worst about my condition. Father in heaven, thank You for the promise that while we were yet sinners, You demonstrated Your love for us in this, You crushed Your Son Jesus to be full, the final, the Only-Ever-Needed sacrifice for sin. Amen.
 
https://youtu.be/ohxSXsVgV-A?si=_cBy4Ng4YASe46Nr What Wondrous Love Is This?
 

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