Spiritual Piety

In Luke 5, Jesus called Levi, the tax collector, to follow Him. This immediately caused a stir. The religious could not fathom why, if Jesus was truly who He was making Himself out to be, He would call to the low life. The religious, who saw themselves as the righteous, did not consider mixing with the unrighteous... the sinners. Why did Jesus cross these lines? If those people wanted to become like the righteous, they could clean up their act and then come over to the other side of life. Jesus had the opposite perspective. He, who was here to offer forgiveness of sin, was not about standing by waiting for the sinners to clean up their act so he could offer them a new life. No, He came to "call sinners to repentence." (v. 31) He wasn't about calling the righteous. Those who already thought they were righteous didn't think they needed a Savior. Jesus equates it to a healthy person not needing a doctor. A person could be truly sick, yet think they are healthy and thus not realize their need for a doctor. Spiritually we are all sinners (Romans 3:23, Romans 3:10), yet we think we are righteous and thus we don't think we are in need of a Savior. Beware of this spiritual piety. Pray that we may see ourselves as we truly are: "God, be merciful to me, a sinner." (Luke 18:13) Only then can the true work of regeneration begin.