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Mark 2:14 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.

Luke has an ear infection. No matter how much grape flavoring, momma's sweet coaxing or daddy's stern brow is applied there are times when he does not want to take the medicine. We are trying to help him. Heal him. He is only two I know, but sometimes it takes some wrestling moves to break his resistance to help. He needs the very thing we are trying to give him to heal him, yet he refuses it violently.

I think that in many ways, man's rejection to the Gospel of Jesus looks just like Luke'e rejection of medicine. Jesus offers a wide mercy in offering all the invitation "Follow Me!", many reject that offer. I believe that it is healthy to examine both what Jesus is offering and our internal reaction to the offer.

Jesus is offering Himself to become our treasure as we agree to become refined into Holiness through trials, struggles and victories. In His offer to follow, we must agree to leave behind desires for other treasures and agree to "pick up our crosses" and daily watch an instrument of death kill the natural man in us all. The offer is to deny our selves from being filled with worldly stuff so that we can be filled with Him and His Holiness. As we follow we trade our treasures, learn to wait until He leads and learn to savor trials and suffering as he presses us into Himself. Later in Mark 2, in verse 17, Jesus makes the statement of, " I realize that this offer will only be accepted by those who are sick. The doctor is here to heal all. Not all are willing to take the medicine of my lavish presence. I know that there are some people whose self made wellness and righteous has them feeling healthy and happy and in no need of me. It isn't that they aren't sick, they are just taking the wrong diagnostic test to define health. They have money, morals and power so their gut tells them things are good. They aren't. They just need to take the right diagnostic test". We all do as well. It is this:

When Jesus extends the offer to follow Him into spiritual restoration of right worship and delight in Him, knowing your healing will come by Him killing your wrong desires, self esteem, and wicked delight in sin and replacing that with Holiness, what is the reastion of your Heart and Soul?

Are you like Luke wrestling Him at every turn, Not submitting and fighting His offer as you truly treasure things of this world more than the Riches of Glory found in Christ Jesus?

Are you more like the pharisees who heard the offer but saw themselves as justified without Him. Do you at the core of truth in your soul feel like you are worthy of standing in the presence of a Holy God?

The first we call rebellion. The second we call religion. Both of them keep men from Following Christ into eternity. I believe for the majority of people reading this religion is the danger. I do not think it is coincidence that the man who accepted Christ's offer in this verse is named Levi. The Levites were at the epicenter of Old Testament worship in the temple perfoming the "inner circle" operations of the sacrifices and temple upkeep. I think God planned all of that to foreshadow the fact that there will be those who slave in religion to come to His grace. I am one of them. If you have been in Church all of your life, yet have never experienced the richness of Grace in a Holy walk of following Christ, may this verse and picture of a man with a righteous name of Levi, who was actually buried in sin and seperated from God seep deep into your soul and activate faith in Christ. Maybe you are outwardly referred to as a Christian in name, but inside are an empty shell. He wants you to follow Him.

Following Christ frustrates the flesh, yet raises the Holy Spirit within. Following Christ will guarantee that trials and struggles will force you to your knees to praise Him more, as you realize that He is exalted in your weakness. What is even better is that His Grace is so rich that you learn to see these as gifts of growth.

If you are following Him, you will learn to appreciate the tension of the Gospel which squeezes the self esteem out of you to replace it with Christ. if you are not then you will be hard at work at building your self esteem either through self righteous acts of religion or be pacifying the tension with rebellious things that provide escape like sex, drugs, power, and pleasure. Maybe you were like me and chose the combo. I believe that is actually where many who might acknowledge the name of Jesus walk. That is not the path following Christ.

Religion and Rebellion are the same in God's eyes. They both say no thanks to the only true medicine for our sin and actually keep us from seeing our need for Christ. It looks just like Luke kicking and screaming as he resists. Maybe for someone reading this God has lovingly placed you in a submissive hold and He is pinning you down by orchestrating life events that have you paralized. Maybe, like me putting Luke in a full nelson to give him medicine, The Father is applying so much loving tension in your life in an effort to forces submission to follow so that healing can begin. If so, stop resisting and simply close your eyes, get on your knees and do what Levi did and say, "I will follow you Jesus". Gaze into the Glory of Christ as you worship a the foot of the Cross. Take your medicine- Jesus brings warm healing to the soul!