The Invitation of a Lifetime

The verse for 5/28 is from Luke 5:28, "So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him."  (NLT)

Jesus had given Levi a personal invitation to come and be His disciple.  At the time, Levi was a tax collector, a less than honorable profession.  Most people would not have given someone like Levi the time of day, much less given him an invitation like Jesus did.  Maybe that kind of grace, alone, was enough to get Levi's attention, but I think it was more than that.  I think Levi saw the face of Jesus and couldn't resist what he saw there.  I think He saw love, grace, mercy, kindness, compassion, acceptance and salvation in the face of the Savior.  How could he say no?

Sometimes, I wonder how people can turn Him down, when Jesus says, "follow me."  It seems like a personal invitation from Jesus would be hard to turn down.  Yet, many of us have chosen not to follow Him, at least for a while.  I think when we are finally in a situation where we come face to face with the real Jesus, like Levi did, we have no choice but to do what he did.  I know that, once I saw Him, face to face, I had to say "yes" to the invitation to follow Him.  When we leave everything behind, it's only because we see that He really has something better for us.  He is better for us.  Yes, His is an invitation of a lifetime.