HONK IF YOU LOVE JESUS

DAY 12: So I'm just going to admit it: I don't have an "I love Jesus" bumper sticker on my car.  I also don't have an ichthus (you know one of those Christian fish symbols). I think they are awesome.  I really do.  But they present a problem for me.  I am an angry driver.  I don't flip people off or run them off the road, but I have been known to be liberal with my horn if you don't move fast enough when the light turns green.  I have rolled my eyes at an incredibly incompetent clerk at the fast food drive through.  And yes, I have flashed my lights and tailgated someone who does not understand the concept of the fast lane.

Knowing this about myself, I try to keep my driving life separate from my Christian life. After all, if all the other drivers know that I'm a Christian I will have to start acting like it on the road instead of just in my church.  Some people even apply that reasoning to their work life. It sounds silly, yes, but uncommon - hardly.  In my experience, there are a lot of fools just like me who think that they can keep God out of certain parts of their lives so nothing has to change. In time, if we truly are allowing God more and more of us, we figure out that you can't have "a little of God."  He wants all of us, all the time.

It seems that Matthew the tax collector had a few things to show me about inviting God in to all areas of my life.  When I spent time with God today, I read that:

Matthew 9:9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Matthew got up and followed him.  10 That night, Matthew invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners.

WOW!!!  Matthew wasted no time inviting Jesus into his whole life.  He invited Jesus into his home, introduced him to his tax-collector work buddies, and, as Garth Brooks would sing, all his "friends in low places." Matthew was excited for Jesus to make an impact on his whole life; and with Jesus by his side, Matthew was making an impact.

I don't know if he would have put a bumper sticker on the back of his donkey, but I feel sure that if he did it would say, "Honk if you love Jesus!"

I'm asking God today to show me anyplace I have shut him out - besides in the carpool.  I want to be more like Matthew and take Jesus where ever I go.

 I'd love to hear your comments today.  And tune in every Sunday night for a live God-conversation at www.KSBJ.org at 7pm CST.  Just click the LISTEN LIVE link on the top of the page. 

Day 12 of 365
Genesis 26:17-35
Genesis 27
Matthew 9:1-17
Psalm 10:16-18
Proverbs 3:9-10


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