8-11-23 Walk the Same Road

Daily Devotion: Walk the Same Road - by Greg Laurie – www.harvest.org As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him. —Matthew 9:9 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/walk-the-same-road/ Listen Can you think of someone you could never imagine converting to Christianity, being at the church, singing a worship song, reading the Bible, and following the Lord? The Bible tells the story of a man no one ever expected to later become a Christian. His name was Matthew, and he had an unexpected and instantaneous conversion. In a moment, he left his world as he knew it. Why was there such an immediate change in Matthew? As we look at his life, we don’t find any record of Jesus having any conversations with him before calling him. We don’t know of any time when Matthew would have seen a miracle performed by the Lord Himself. Yet Matthew responded to two words that forever changed his life: “Follow me.” And Matthew did just that. Matthew was in a profession that very few liked. He was a tax collector, a man who was working for Rome and had betrayed his own people. But Matthew understood the significance of Jesus’ words. And when Jesus told Matthew to follow Him, Matthew was prepared to do just that. In the original Bible language, “Follow me” means “Walk the same road with me.” It’s also in the present tense, commanding the beginning of an action and its habitual continuation. Putting it all together, Jesus was saying, “I am asking you, even commanding you, to follow me each and every day.” Jesus is saying the same to us right now. Let’s walk the same road together. Let’s take this journey through life together. Let’s finish what we’ve started. So many begin following Christ with great excitement, only to give up later. Yet, the apostle Paul talked about finishing his race with joy (see Acts 20:24 NKJV). That should be the objective of every follower of Jesus.

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