Devotion for 8 January - The Great Adventure Continues

A brief prayer is offered that you can add to your daily prayers this week. The scripture is from our Sunday Service Bulletin for today. We continue with our sermon series: “The Great Adventure”

¹³ He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. ¹⁴ And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

¹⁵ And as he reclined at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners were reclining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. ¹⁶ And the scribes of the Pharisees, when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors, said to his disciples, “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?” ¹⁷ And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

In our sermon today, a metaphor was offered up using pictures of cacti apparently growing from rocks. What it takes for a plant to stay alive is some sort of linkage to nutrients, air (carbon dioxide primarily), and water. [If you are a botanist, you might know about the class of plants which have readily adapted to this type of existence, called “Lithophytes”. In this piece, I am talking about just plain old plants which have made some sort of connection to mother earth to access nutrients]. You may know someone who is living a “rocky” existence and needs some sort of connection to God and His comforting promise of salvation. If so, read on. I know it is quite easier to talk to people about God connections at church on Sunday morning when you are surrounded by church going people. It is a little different when you are in a social situation outside worship. That moment when you are talking to someone who you suddenly realize is not connected with God. Our text today has Jesus socializing with sinners, and you can do the same and try to be someone’s connection to God -- the ultimate “nutrient” for sinners. Could 2017 be the start of your great adventure of making disciples? All it takes is an encouraging word, an offer of prayer, an invitation to church, or a personal story. God will do the rest.