Are You Well or Sick?

Daily Reading:  Luke 5

Scripture Focus:  Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. (Luke 5.31-32)

Devotional Thought:  Levi was a tax collector.  Things were the same then as they are today - nobody liked tax collectors!  Levi was among a group who were working with the Romans to exploit the Jews.  What was worse, is that often these tax collectors were Jewish themselves.  They were seen as traitors!  And yet, Jesus walks up to Levi in his tax booth and says two words… “Follow me.”  These words would change Levi’s life forever.

You have to wonder what was going on in Levi’s heart.  He was fully aware of the hatred that his own people had for him, and even knew it was justified.  I would guess there must have existed some form of self-hatred in his heart, knowing the type of person he had become.  Yet he was still there at his tax booth, stuck in his sinful behavior, until Jesus came for him. 

The self-righteous Pharisees didn’t see the sickness in their own hearts.  Jesus came to heal them of their sinfulness as well!  The tax collectors were, in a way, in a much better position to receive what Jesus was offering.  They knew they were sick and needed a Savior while the Pharisees couldn’t see past their own “righteousness” to acknowledge their need.  Levi had nothing to lose; he couldn’t get any lower in the opinion of his neighbors, and so he grasped onto the hope that was offered to him.  The Pharisees had an image to uphold, and one that would suffer greatly if they dared to associate with Jesus.

Let us be more like Levi in our honest self-appraisal, resulting in humility, repentance, and forgiveness!

Jenny Wade

Prayer: Jesus, thank you that you came to heal the sick, to forgive the sinner, and raise the dead soul to life in you.  I humble myself before you and gladly confess my need.  Come and give me life.  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 135.8-14

8 He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt, both of man and of beast;

9 who in your midst, O Egypt, sent signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants;

10 who struck down many nations and killed mighty kings,

11 Sihon, king of the Amorites, and Og, king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan,

12 and gave their land as a heritage, a heritage to his people Israel.

13 Your name, O Lord, endures forever, your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages.

14 For the Lord will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.