Family Devotion Day 9: Be last to be first

Read

Matthew 9:9-13 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and sinners came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Learn

Remember the “cannot make it” people from yesterday? Matthew was one of them. He was a tax collector. Tax collectors in Bible times were hated by everyone because they got rich by collecting taxes, or money, from them. They were considered thieves.

But when Jesus called Matthew, he left his riches to become a follower of Christ. He became a new creation and wrote the first book in the New Testament of the Bible! Matthew, the last of the last, became an important disciple of Jesus.

Do not look down on those who seem to be unimportant or even bad. Jesus came not to judge but to save the sick, the poor, and those who are unpopular.

People whom we think are impossible to save can be saved and become useful people after knowing Jesus.

/ Discuss

Are there people in your life you do not like, or people you think are impossible for Jesus to save?
How will you reach out to them to tell them about Jesus?

/ Pray

Pray that God will give you His eyes to see people as He sees them – as souls who can be changed by the Gospel to live amazing lives for God.
Ask the Holy Spirit to show you how to help people hear and understand why Jesus died for them and how precious His gift of salvation is.
Pray that God will help you keep praying for those who have heard the Gospel but have not yet accepted it. Ask God to unblock their minds so they will receive Jesus.