Full Potential in Jesus

Later, as Jesus left the town, He saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow Me and be My disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, left everything, and followed Him. —
Luke 5:27-28 (NLT)

Jesus had a knack for looking at people and seeing something different from what everyone else saw. Take Levi, the tax collector, for example. The entire community viewed Levi as a money-hungry cheat. They looked at him in scorn and judged him as a man who lacked integrity. They considered him to be a person who lived to rip off anyone who crossed his path.

But Jesus looked at Levi and saw a man He could trust.

He saw a man who was thirsting for truth and who wanted a real reason to live. Not surprisingly, Jesus’s estimation was correct. He called Levi to follow Him, and immediately Levi left everything familiar behind to become a loyal disciple.

I love hearing testimonies from people whose lives Jesus has transformed. In some cases, the general population considered them beyond hope. They may have been prisoners or adulterers or abusers or the abused. Others looked at them and their lives and considered them beyond redemption. But Jesus looked at them and saw something different.

How do I view people?

Do I judge them by their outward appearance, their current sorry state, or their miserable history and automatically assume the worst? Or do I see them with their full potential as Christ does? I’m learning to see with His eyes.

— Grace Fox

FAITH STEP: Sometimes we view ourselves through a skewed lens. We see ourselves as unlovable, shamed, or second-class because of past failures. How do you see yourself? How does Jesus see you? Read Zephaniah 3:17.

Excerpted with permission from Mornings with Jesus, copyright Guideposts.

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Your Turn

Stop and take an assessment of how you view people, including yourself. Do you view others through the lens of grace as Jesus’ does? Do you ask God to help you have His perspective? Come share with us on our blog. We would love to hear from you about what you hear God saying about your full potential and viewing others in grace. ~ Devotionals Daily