A Man Named Matthew

 "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." Matthew 9:9

    As Matthew recorded his meeting with Jesus in his gospel account, he must have recalled with great tenderness the moment Jesus saw him - not as a traitorous, despised tax collector - but as a man with a name. That is how God sees each one of us, as valuable and lovable individuals, and we must each decide whether or not we will follow Him.

    Our culture is defined by labels, categories and demographics. Case in point: We bought a new refrigerator a while back. It came with a product registration card which I dutifully set out to complete. The usual questions were represented i.e. name, address, date of purchase; with these I had no qualm. But then the queries sought to lump me into categories that had no connections to my purchase: What level of education did you complete? Do you own your home or rent? How much is your gross income?

    Why did they need to know that? As far as I was concerned, I was just a person in need of cold food. This led me gratefully into the presence of my Lord who sees me as His beloved child. When I was broken, He didn't see a high-school-educated non-hispanic in a low income tax bracket who worked as a bank teller. He saw a soul in need of salvation. He backed up His reliability with His own blood, having written a love letter to me with its scarlet ink in these words from Paul's letter to the Romans:

    "If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all - how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?" Romans 8: 31, 32