October 24: Matthew 9 12-13

Key Verse: Matthew 9 13
But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

Devotion:
One of the best things I like about the books of the gospel in the New Testament is how they all tell the same story but each of the writers recount the words in slightly different ways. Just as we remembered how Jesus said He was here for the sinners, Matthew also wrote those words; but he went ahead and focused on what we should be doing after hearing those words.

The other gospels simply state that God does not require sacrifices, but Matthew asks the question – “what should we be doing about this?”

We are not here to go hunting for the people who are going to listen and build up a church of happy people who are inwardly looking. We are here to reach out into the world for those who have not listened and open their eyes to what God has said. If we reach out into communities where God’s Word has all but been forgotten, then we are doing what God has asked of us: to “go out into the world” and take the gospel with us. If we do not reach out into these communities then we are turning our backs on the people who need hope the most!

One of the greatest things I have learned from coming to live on a needy estate is that we must never judge people! We may have been raised in a very different environment where we have learned a set of right and wrong rules and limits. People in other areas have learned a very different set of rules and limits, not because they have not obeyed God, but because they have needed to learn life in a very different way. Respect what they have learned and simply open up God’s Word and your heart to show them how God can give them hope in what may seem like a hopeless situation – we probably have been in hopeless points in our own lives…

Points to Ponder:
Are you willing to go out into the world and spread God’s love and mercy?

Why not start by meeting people where they live and showing them hope?