New Day, New Year, and New Beginnings - 31 Days of Fresh StartsSample

Encountering Jesus...

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.” So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.
Luke 5:27-28

We can hardly begin to talk about new life without lifting some examples of folks from God’s Word. We’ll intermittently take a look at a few of these individuals as we journey through the subject of newness.

Here, we have Levi. Or Matthew, as he was later called. He was so transformed—so made new—that his name even changed. What we discover is that Matt’s transformation effectively began when He encountered Jesus. Our walk in a new area of living begins this way, too.

Over the last two days, we’ve discussed the power of exchanging what we’ve been noodling for years for what the Lord thinks. However, His newness also occurs as we take time in His presence, experiencing His presence. Encountering Jesus, not just once, but every day of our lives.

This is what happened for Matthew. He spent just a moment in God’s company, then left everything to follow and pursue Him. The old life was replaced by the Savior simply being near.

Most of us have found that Jesus is irresistible. That’s why we came to Him in the first place. He had something we needed, and He freely gave it to us. Yet even though we still ardently love Him—we’ve discovered an area in our lives that is literally stuck in a rut. Sound familiar?

The remedy for digging out of that rut and doing something new? Simply encountering Jesus once again. And again. Taking time out of our over-scheduled lives to connect deeply with Him. Alone. Just Him and us. Alone. Coming to Him, warts, ruts, and all, and not leaving until we sense His peace, joy, power, healing, or freedom. All we need to do is come.