The Baby & The Bathwater – Build a Strong Life - Monday
Today’s Verse
Matthew 9:9
As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. (NIV)
“How was the trip?”
My friend, Kyle, took a deep breath. His eyes grew large in exasperation as he shook his head slightly and exhaled. “Long…” he smirked, looking at his wife Emma who immediately erupted in laughter.
“What’s so funny?” I asked as the two shared a moment.
“Do you wanna tell him, or should I?” Emma teased mercilessly.
Kyle had just spent the weekend visiting some friends in Alabama. A few hours into the long, four-hour drive back to Nashville (where we all lived), he started feeling drowsy. “The trip down seemed so much shorter!” he explained, suppressing a smile. Pulling into a gas station to fill up and grab some coffee, he noticed a palm tree in the parking lot.
I don’t know if you’ve ever been to Tennessee before, but it’s not exactly known for its palm trees…
Frantically, Kyle pulled up his phone’s GPS and realized that he’d accidentally driven four hours in the wrong direction to Florida instead. Different state. Different direction. The worst part was that not only did Kyle now have to make the four-hour trip back to Alabama—he then had to drive another four hours back to Nashville.
“If I ever drive through the state of Alabama again… it’ll be too soon!” he confessed as we all shared a big laugh.
To Kyle’s credit, he eventually made it home. Partially because of the amount of caffeine he consumed—but mostly because he did the most important thing he could do at that moment: turn around.
A young tax collector named Matthew was once headed in the wrong direction, too. He worked for the Roman government, gouged his own people (the Jews) on their share of taxes, and in turn, cheated them out of their hard-earned wages. When the money started rolling in, there's a good chance Matthew didn’t notice how far off course he’d really gone. But eventually, after just one moment in Jesus's presence—he looked up and realized he wasn’t where he needed to be, and that Jesus’s way led to a better life.
One of the best things about following Jesus is knowing that no matter where He leads us, He will always point us in the right direction. Matthew learned that a turn towards Jesus is always a turn towards home.
And as my friend Kyle will tell you—that’s a very important turn to make.
REFLECTION
What is something you need to turn away from this year in order to follow Jesus?
