Before and After

 

In one of our home group’s study notes, that have been so lovingly prepared for us, I was really inspired, encouraged and challenged by just two Bible verses that we were led to look at. Often, we may well read verses and not really see the depth in them and for me, this was the case.
 
The two verses were in Luke 5:27-28 which says, “After this Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi (later named Matthew, the Gospel writer), sitting at his tax collecting booth. ‘Follow me’ Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed Him.”
 
On looking closer at this, it became clear what a life-changing event meeting Jesus was for Matthew. Not only did he give up what was most probably a lucrative tax collecting business, working for the Romans, to which he would never be able to return, he also did something else quite surprising as you can read in verse 29. At his house he held a meal for Jesus. Now it wasn’t just a burger in a bun or chicken nuggets, it was a banquet, but we read a ‘great’ banquet to which  Matthew invited a ‘large’ crowd, many of whom were even considered undesirable.
 
What a life-changing ‘before and after’ for Matthew and here’s the point: he wanted others, as many as possible, to come and meet Jesus. For me this was the heart of the story. Yes, Matthew was completely changed, but he wanted others to come to know Jesus.
 
Matthew wanted people to meet with the Jesus that had changed his life. If we love Jesus as Christ, the King of kings, Lord of lords, the life-changing Saviour, the unchanging faithful God, don’t we long for others to know Him too? Ask yourself this, are you a ‘before and after’ Christian?