ESOCS Devotional 12 August 2024 – How Do You React to Divine Invitation
MEMORY VERSE: ““Levi got up, left everything and followed him.” Luke 5:28
TEXT: LUKE 5:27-39
After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, “Follow Me.” 28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.
29 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. 30 And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, “Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”
31 Jesus answered and said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.”
33 Then they said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?”
34 And He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.”
36 Then He spoke a parable to them: “No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. 39 And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, ‘The old is better.’
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There is no act more rewarding in our relationship with God than the act of immediate obedient response to the invitation of God. It brings about escape from the lessons of long indulgence in sin. The likes of the prodigal son were forced by hard times experience to return to his father (Luke 17). But Abraham became a good example of prompt obedience to God due to his immediate obedience to God’s invitation. There is no time to waste. Spending extra time in sinfulness is a great loss. Take the step forward to the precious bleeding side of the Lord. In our text, Levi the sinful tax collector was quick to abandon well well-paid but sinful endeavour of tax collection to follow Jesus Christ (Luke 5:27,28). What are you waiting for?
The profit is great. Life in Christ sets you free from sin and the consequences of sin (Romans 8:1-2). It gives you a place in eternal life (John 3:16). It places you above trouble and troublemakers of this world, and preserves you in righteousness and prosperity (2 John 5:3-5).
Jesus Christ is God’s intervention for the human need for deliverance from sin and its consequences. There is no doubt that with regard to the nature of life on earth, particularly in Nigeria, it is almost impossible for anyone to please God except with the help of the Lord Himself. The mission of Christ is to give this desired help (Luke 5:31-32).
Delay, they say, is dangerous. Come to Jesus now; tomorrow may be too late. Procrastination is a killer.
- How long should it take for one to believe and practice the word of God?
- Father, I believe your word. Come to me now and take charge, in Jesus name. Amen.
Further Reading: Joshua 6:12-23; Daniel 6:15-end; Acts 17:16-end
ESOCS Devotional 12 August 2024
