Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named LEvi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?”
Jesus later answered them. “Healthy people don’t need a doctor – sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.
Luke 5: 27-32 (NLT)
We all know a few “Pharisees,” and maybe we’ve even acted like one.
But the true meaning of following Jesus is not shown by pretending to be perfect and judging others as a byproduct of that (fake) perfection.
It’s shown by continually working on yourself while showing love and kindness to others. Even the people that look different, think different, act differently, and even believe differently than you.
It’s believing Jesus is really for everyone and can make beauty out of anyone’s life, especially those with a past.
And it’s admitting that even though you might sin differently than someone else, you need that doctor just as much as the person across the room from you does.
2/23/22
-Katie