OUR DAILY BREAD : JESUS' TEAM

[cimi]

March 8
Friday


JESUS' TEAM

READ:
Luke 5:27-35
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He...saw a tax
collector named
Levi....And He
said to him, "Follow
Me." __Luke 5:27
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In 2002 the Oakland Athletics built a winning baseball team in an unorthodox way. They had lost three top players after 2001, and the team didn't have money to sign any stars. So Oakland's general manager, Billy Beane, used some often-neglected statistics to assemble a group of lesser-known players either "past their prime" or seen by other teams as not skilled enough. That ragtag team ran off a 20-game winning streak on the way to winning their division and 103 games.

This reminds me a little of the way Jesus put together His "team" of disciples. He included rough Galilean fishermen, a zealot, and even a despised tax collector named Levi (Matthew). This reminds me that "God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty" (1 Cor. 1:27). God used those dedicated men (minus Judas) to ignite a movement that affected the world so dramatically it has never been the same.

There's a lesson here for us. Sometimes we seek out the familiar, the influential, and the rich. And we tend to ignore people with less status or those with physical limitations.

Jesus put some of society's less desirable people on His team__treating everyone the same. With the Spirit's power and guidance, we too can honor all people equally. __David Egner

`````````````````In Jesus Christ we all are equal,``````````````
``````````````````For God's Spirit makes us one;```````````````
``````````````````As we give each other honor,````````````````
```````````````We give glory to His Son. __fitzhugh`````````````
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There are no unimportant people
in the body of Christ.

*****************Today's Bible Reading __ Luke 5:27-35********************

27 After these things He
went out and saw a tax
collector named Levi,
sitting at the tax office. And
He said to him, "Follow
Me." 28 So he left all, rose
up, and followed Him.

29 Then Levi gave Him
a great feast in his own
house. And there were
a great number of tax
collectors and others who
sat down with them.

30 And their scribes and
the Pharisees complained
against His disciples,
saying, "Why do You
eat and drink with tax
collectors and sinners?"

31 Jesus answered and
said to them, "Those who
are well have no need of a
physician, but those who
are sick. 32 I have not come
to call the righteous, but
sinners, to repentance."

33 Then they said to Him,
"Why do the disciples of
John fast often and make
prayers, and likewise those
of the Pharisees, but Yours
eat and drink?"

34 And He said to them,
"Can you make the friends
of the bridegroom fast
while the bridegroom
is with them? 35 But the
days will come when the
bridegroom will be taken
away from them; then they
will fast in those days."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>INSIGHT<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Levi, better known to us as Matthew, exemplifies two elements
of following Jesus. When Jesus said, "Follow Me" (v.27), Levi left
everything and followed. He then threw a feast in Jesus' honor.
Levi's example shows us that following Jesus means leaving behind
those things that would hinder us. And as believers, we should tell
others about Him and the difference He has made.