Sick of Religion? Week 3: Devotional Day 5

Sick of Religion? Week 3: Devotional Day 5

DAY 5 – Friday

Daily devotional

Read

Mark 2:15-16; Luke 5:27-29

Ask

Do we as Christians only hang out with other Christians?

Reflect

Have you ever started a project that you were super excited about only to realize that the outcome was not how you thought it would turn out?

As we start the project of digging into the character of Jesus, we wonder if we will like the outcome. Will we be more like him? Can we even? Jesus seemed to seek out the shaky business partners and women of the night, the physically deformed, and the emotionally needy and he never wrote people off. In fact, he invited everyone in with grace into his circle of hope.

Do we? Can we? I hope you will be honest with Jesus about this. I know the Holy Spirit will teach me all I need to know and lead me, but I have to be honest first.

In Luke’s gospel account of this story, it says Matthew had a great reception for Jesus and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with him. The first thing Matthew did when he met Jesus was introduce Jesus to his friends. Matthew didn’t waste a minute; he told others of Jesus. Do we drag our feet here?

Do we as Christians only hang out with other Christians? How many people do you hang out with regularly who aren’t Jesus followers? How many people do you invite into your home that don’t have your values or don’t look like you? If I’m being honest, I can count on one hand all of these outcomes. Do you know how many opportunities I have missed to show the love of Christ to the needy world around me? Countless!

The Holy Spirit is the one who changes us and we need his help. Becoming more Christ-like is hard work and the outcome will be better than we expect. If we want to be the “hands and feet” of Christ we are going to need his “eyes and ears.”