Jesus 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 5:31
When was the last time you were stuck in traffic? It is not fun. When you are right in the middle of a traffic jam, it can feel like the traffic will last forever, and you will never get out. The truth is, we can feel stuck in more difficult situations than traffic. We can feel stuck in our own lives. It can feel like our story will always be the same, and we will be stuck in the same struggles and hardships we have always been facing. The truth is, God wants to change your story, and He is ready and waiting to work in our lives and change our story.
Jesus proved throughout His entire earthly ministry that He is ready and willing to change our stories. Many religious people of His day judged the people around them who were struggling with sin. They judged and kept their distance from them. This must have left people feeling stuck, believing there was no hope for change to occur in their lives. Jesus taught differently. He taught that He wanted to step into people’s stories and change them. That was His entire mission for coming to earth.
Jesus made it clear in Luke 5 that He came to change our stories. In this chapter, some people questioned Jesus for not only associating with a tax collector named Levi, who had become one of Jesus’ disciples, and his fellow tax collectors. They wondered why He associated “with such scum” (verse 30). Jesus immediately corrected their faulty line of thinking. He replied, “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” (verses 31-32). Jesus made it clear that He loved Levi and the others who were with them and that they were not “scum.” He also made it clear that He came to step into their stories. He wanted to change their lives, making them change from being sick to well.
Christ is still in the business of changing our stories today. He wants to step into our stories and bring hope and healing. We are never “stuck” or “too far gone” for Him to work. Believe it or not, God can change your story.
Are you feeling stuck today? Are you wondering if your story will always be the same, with all of the trials and hardships you face? You are not alone. God is with you, and He is ready and willing to work in your life. The question is, will you trust Him? Spend some time right now just thanking God. Thank Him that He is not an absent God but a God who works every day in our lives. Let this reminder that God is ready to work in your life encourage you as you wait for God to work and move in your life.
Luke 5:27-32 (NLT)
27 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. 28 So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.
29 Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them. 30 But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?”
31 Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. 32 I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”
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