Leaving Everything Behind

Leaving Everything Behind

February 16, 2013

Saturday After Ash Wednesday

If you hold back your foot on the Sabbath from following your own pursuits on my holy day; If you call the Sabbath a delight, and the LORD’s holy day honorable; If you honor it by not following your ways, seeking your own interests, or speaking with malice– Then you shall delight in the LORD.  Isaiah 58:13-14a

Jesus saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at the customs post.  He said to him, “Follow me.”  And leaving everything behind, he got up and followed him.   Luke 5:27-28

Piety

Matthew was mindful
Of taking the tax,
Pressing the people to pay
Hearing the call,
He responded in faith
Followed the Light and the Way
Leaving the people
So puzzled he found,
The greed in his heart
Was no longer around and
It's hard to imagine
The freedom we find
From the things
We leave behind. 

(From Michael Card, The Things We Leave Behind)

Study

Little Lenten Instruction Book: Day Four.  With two simple words, Jesus turns the tax collector into a follower.  He gives up everything.

For Lent, we focus on giving up something that provides us with comfort.  Maybe a favorite food, a favorite drink, or a favorite diversion.  How much more did the tax collector give up?  How much more did the widow give up by donating her last coin.

Christianity calls on us to give up our comfort zone and offer our life -- hook, line and sinker -- to the carpenter's son.  Then, when we stop following our own pursuits, we can be followers of Jesus and fishers of men and women for Him -- hook, line and sinker.

Action

Get out of your comfort zone for a while this weekend.  Leave something behind.  Go to a different church.  Visit a friend you have not seen in a while.  Use the Monday holiday to do something for others.