Pieces of the Puzzle

Following Jesus is not about becoming less human. It is about becoming more fully the people God created us to be.

Have you ever been talking with someone and realized that, although you were physically present, your mind was somewhere else?

Maybe you were thinking about the next thing you needed to do. Maybe you were distracted by something on your phone. Or maybe you were already thinking about what you wanted to say next instead of really listening.

Most of us have experienced something like that.

We live in a world that can make it difficult to remain attentive to one another. We can become hurried, distracted, isolated, or so focused on achievement that we lose sight of the people around us.

And I don’t think most of us intend to live that way.

We want to be present. We want to be patient. We want to be people who notice and care. Yet sometimes there is a distance between the kind of people we want to be and the way we actually live.

That raises a question worth considering: What does it mean to be fully human?

Christian faith gives us a particular way of answering that question. We look to Jesus.

In Christ, we see a life shaped by love, mercy, courage, faithfulness, and service. Following Jesus is not about becoming less human. It is about becoming more fully the people God created us to be.

And that doesn’t happen all at once.

Christ Has Taken Hold of Us

The apostle Paul gives us a picture of this continuing journey in his letter to the Philippians. He has followed Christ for years, yet he does not speak as though he has arrived.

He is still pressing on.

“Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.”

— Philippians 3:12, NRSVUE

Despite years of faithful ministry, Paul acknowledges that there is still more to learn and more ways his life can be shaped by Christ.

But notice what gives him the confidence to keep going.

He presses on because Christ Jesus has already made him his own.

That order matters.

Paul is not trying to earn Christ’s acceptance. He is responding to the grace that has already taken hold of his life.

There is a difference between spending our lives trying to prove that we are enough and living because we have discovered that we are already loved.

Sometimes we approach faith as though, if we pray enough, serve enough, or become good enough, God will finally be pleased with us.

But Paul gives us a different picture. He presses on because Christ has already taken hold of him. Christ’s grace has given his life a new direction.

We are not trying to become someone God might someday love. We are learning to live as people who are already loved.

This is deeply connected to the Methodist understanding of grace. God’s grace comes before our response, awakens us to God’s love, and continues shaping us throughout our lives. We do not grow in faith in order to make God love us. We grow because God’s love is already at work in us.

As Paul writes elsewhere, “For by grace you have been saved through faith,” and we are created in Christ Jesus for good works (Ephesians 2:8–10).

Grace is not the reward for our progress. Grace is the beginning, the strength, and the continuing source of our growth.

Becoming More Fully Human

If Christ has taken hold of us, what kind of life is that grace drawing us toward?

The opening chapter of 2 Peter offers a helpful picture. Before calling believers to make every effort to grow, the writer reminds them that God has already given them what they need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3).

Once again, grace comes first.

But grace also invites us to participate in the work God is doing.

The passage calls believers to grow in faith, goodness, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godliness, mutual affection, and love (2 Peter 1:5–7).

This is not a checklist for proving that we are good Christians. It is a picture of the character God’s grace is forming in us.

For some, that may mean learning self-control. For others, it may mean patience when change takes longer than hoped. It may mean growing in courage, becoming more attentive to others, or recognizing more deeply that we belong to one another.

And all of it moves toward love.

Not simply love as a feeling, but love that takes shape in the way we live.

This brings us back to our question about humanness.

What if becoming more like Christ is also becoming more fully human—more capable of love, more attentive to others, more faithful in our relationships, and more willing to serve?

The New Testament describes this transformation in several ways. Paul speaks of being “transformed by the renewing of your minds” (Romans 12:2). He describes the fruit of the Spirit as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22–23).

These are not qualities that make us less human. They help us become more fully the people God created us to be.

In Methodist theology, this continuing work of grace is often called sanctification. It is the process by which God’s love increasingly shapes our hearts and lives. John Wesley understood Christian perfection not as flawless performance, but as being perfected in love.

The goal is not to become people who no longer need grace. It is to become people whose lives increasingly reflect the love of Christ.

And that kind of growth often takes shape in the ordinary moments of life.

The Next Faithful Step Is Often Ordinary

Sometimes spiritual growth involves major decisions or new opportunities to serve. But often the next faithful step is much closer to home.

It may be learning to listen when we would rather respond.

It may be offering forgiveness, setting a healthy boundary, asking for help, or making time for prayer.

It may be noticing something that needs to be done and choosing to do it in love, even when no one else will notice.

It may be speaking up when someone is being treated unjustly, making room for a person who has been excluded, or choosing compassion when it would be easier to turn away.

Jesus reminds us that love of God and love of neighbor belong together (Mark 12:29–31). The letter of James similarly reminds us that faith takes shape in action, particularly in our care for those in need (James 2:14–17).

The next step will not look exactly the same for everyone. We have different gifts, different circumstances, and different places where God’s grace is inviting us to grow.

The goal is not to compare our progress with someone else’s. It is to respond faithfully to the grace already at work in our lives.

So perhaps the question is:

Where is Christ inviting me to become more loving, more faithful, and more fully human in the life I am actually living?

Paul offers a helpful word here. In Philippians 3:16, he encourages believers to continue faithfully from where they are.

We do not have to pretend we are somewhere we are not. And we do not have to begin again from nothing.

We can take the next faithful step from where we are today.

We Were Never Meant to Grow Alone

Following Jesus was never meant to be a solitary journey.

The Christian life is personal, but it is not private. We grow through relationships, shared practices, encouragement, accountability, and opportunities to love and serve.

The early church devoted itself to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayer (Acts 2:42). The writer of Hebrews encourages believers to consider how they might “provoke one another to love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24).

That is a beautiful description of what Christian community can be.

A healthy church does more than invite people to attend worship. It helps people discover what following Jesus looks like in their lives and encourages them as they take the next step.

That means doing more than telling people they should pray, study Scripture, serve, or grow in faith. It means helping one another discover how.

Someone who wants to begin praying may need another person to show them that prayer doesn’t have to be complicated.

Someone exploring Scripture may need a place where questions are welcome.

Someone who wants to serve may need help discovering where their gifts fit.

And someone who is struggling may need a trusted person who will listen without immediately trying to fix everything.

Sometimes the next step is not taking on another responsibility. It may be learning to rest, asking for help, or allowing others to care for us.

A church that helps people grow should not simply become a church that keeps asking people to do more.

We are called to help one another become more fully the people God created us to be.

We learn from one another. We share our gifts, our questions, our struggles, and our hopes.

We are not here to measure one another’s progress.

We are here to encourage one another’s faithfulness.

A Community of Grace

This is one reason Christian community matters so deeply.

When someone becomes part of a church, the hope is not simply that another name will be added to a membership roll. The deeper hope is that another person will find a community in which to discover Christ, grow in grace, and share in the life and mission of the church.

Membership is not a declaration that someone has arrived. It is a commitment to continue following Christ within a community that promises to walk alongside one another.

And that invitation extends beyond formal membership.

Whether someone has been part of a church for decades, is returning after time away, is exploring faith for the first time, or is simply wondering what it might mean to follow Jesus, there is room to take a next step.

The church is not meant to be a gathering of people who have already figured everything out. It is a community of people learning to respond to grace together.

That is part of the beauty of the Methodist tradition’s emphasis on the means of grace—practices such as prayer, searching the Scriptures, worship, Holy Communion, Christian fellowship, and works of mercy.

These practices are not ways of earning God’s love. They are ways of making ourselves available to the grace that is already seeking and shaping us.

They help us grow in love of God and neighbor.

And they remind us that spiritual growth is not simply about becoming more religious. It is about becoming more loving.

Pressing On Together

Paul writes:

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.”

— Philippians 3:14, NRSVUE

He is not standing at the finish line congratulating himself. He is still following.

And so are we.

Following Jesus is not about becoming less human. It is about becoming more fully the people God created us to be.

People whose lives are shaped by love. People who notice one another, make room for others, serve, forgive, seek justice, and continue learning what it means to follow Christ.

We have not arrived. But Christ has taken hold of us, and grace is still at work.

So perhaps the question for each of us is:

What is my next faithful step?

Not the step I think I should have taken years ago. Not someone else’s step. The next step Christ is inviting me to take now.

And how can we help one another take those steps?

Because the goal is not simply to become busier, more accomplished, or more religious. It is to become people and communities whose lives more fully reflect the love of Christ.

And we do not have to accomplish that on our own.

The same Christ who calls us has already taken hold of us. The same grace that brought us this far will continue to guide us.

Christ is still calling. Grace is still working. And we can keep following together.

---

A Question for Reflection

Where might Christ be inviting you to take your next faithful step? Perhaps it is a step toward prayer, reconciliation, service, rest, or a deeper connection with others. Consider sharing that question with someone you trust, and look for one small way to respond to God’s grace this week.

Scripture for Further Reflection

Philippians 3:12–16; 2 Peter 1:3–8; Ephesians 2:8–10; Romans 12:1–2; Galatians 5:22–23; Mark 12:29–31; James 2:14–17; Acts 2:42–47; Hebrews 10:23–25.

Following Jesus isn’t about arriving. It’s about allowing God’s grace to keep shaping who we are becoming.

Growth is a funny thing.

With children, we tend to notice it pretty quickly. A pair of shoes suddenly doesn’t fit. Pants that were fine a few months ago are suddenly too short. They learn something new, take on more responsibility, or begin seeing the world in a different way.

Sometimes it feels like you can almost watch them grow.

With the rest of us, growth can be a little harder to see.

The same can be true of our spiritual lives.

Following Jesus is a journey. There really isn’t a point where we get to say, “There. I’ve arrived. I’ve figured out this whole discipleship thing.”

Jesus’ invitation is wonderfully simple:

“Follow me.” — Mark 2:14

But that invitation assumes something important:

God is still working on us.

The people Jesus calls are people Jesus continues to shape.

Jesus Calls Levi Before Levi Has It All Together

In Mark 2:13–17, Jesus encounters Levi sitting at a tax booth.

That detail matters.

Jesus doesn’t meet Levi after Levi has changed his life or figured out what faithfulness will look like. Jesus meets him right in the middle of his ordinary, complicated life and says:

“Follow me.” — Mark 2:14

Jesus doesn’t say, “Clean yourself up first.”

Jesus simply says, “Follow me.”

Grace comes first.

Jesus doesn’t wait for finished people. Jesus calls people and begins forming them as they follow.

Levi’s unfinished life isn’t an exception to discipleship.

None of us begins the journey finished.

This pattern appears throughout the Gospels. Jesus calls ordinary people who still have much to learn. Peter will misunderstand Jesus, make promises he cannot keep, and even deny knowing Christ—and yet Jesus continues to form and restore him (Mark 8:31–33; Luke 22:54–62; John 21:15–19).

Discipleship has never required perfection as its starting point.

It begins with grace.

Jesus Knows We’re Still Becoming

Mark doesn’t leave Levi at the tax booth for long.

Soon Jesus is sitting at Levi’s table, surrounded by tax collectors and others whom Mark calls “sinners” (Mark 2:15–16).

When religious leaders question Jesus about the company he keeps, Jesus responds:

“Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do.” — Mark 2:17

Jesus’ welcome doesn’t depend upon anyone at that table pretending they have everything together.

In fact, Jesus seems to assume the opposite.

There are things in us that need healing. There are attitudes that need changing. There are places where we still need to learn, forgive, trust, and love.

Jesus knows all of that when he calls us.

Jesus doesn’t call us because we are finished. Jesus calls us knowing there is still work to be done.

Recognizing our need to grow isn’t evidence that we are failing at following Jesus.

It is part of following Jesus.

There are no finished people at Jesus’ table.

God Is Still Working on Us

Being unfinished doesn’t mean nothing is happening.

Paul writes to the Christians in Philippi:

“The one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job.” — Philippians 1:6

There is tremendous hope in those words.

Paul doesn’t say, “You started a good work, so try harder to finish it.”

He points to what God is doing.

The God who began this work is still at work.

In the Methodist tradition, we sometimes describe this as sanctifying grace—God’s grace continuing to work within us, healing what needs healing, challenging what needs changing, and shaping us toward Christlike love.

John Wesley described the Christian life as growth in holiness and love of God and neighbor. That growth isn’t something we accomplish apart from grace. It is God’s grace working in us as we respond to it.

As Paul puts it elsewhere:

“God is the one who enables you both to want and to actually live out his good purposes.” — Philippians 2:13

Grace isn’t only what brings us to Christ.

Grace continues shaping us as we follow Christ.

Christian growth, then, isn’t about earning God’s love.

God already loves us (Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:9–10).

Growth is what God’s love begins producing in us.

So perhaps the question isn’t whether we have arrived.

Perhaps the question is whether we are still willing to be shaped.

Growth Looks Different in Different People

If we are all still being shaped, we need to remember something else:

Growth doesn’t look exactly the same in everyone.

We aren’t all starting from the same place. We haven’t had the same experiences. We don’t carry the same wounds, ask the same questions, or struggle with the same things.

The next faithful step may look very different from one person to another.

For one person, growth may mean learning to forgive (Colossians 3:13).

For another, it may mean establishing a healthy boundary.

For someone else, it may mean serving in a new way (1 Peter 4:10), admitting they were wrong (James 5:16), asking for help (Galatians 6:2), or simply learning to trust God one day at a time (Matthew 6:34).

Growth isn’t a competition.

Instead of measuring our faith against someone else’s journey, we can ask:

Where is God’s grace inviting me to grow?

Paul offers us an important sign of what that growth might look like:

“This is my prayer: that your love might become even more and more rich.” — Philippians 1:9

One of the signs that God’s grace is shaping us is that love is growing.

Maybe we are becoming a little more patient.

A little more willing to listen.

A little slower to judge.

A little quicker to notice someone who is hurting.

A little more courageous about doing what is right.

Not all at once. Not perfectly.

But over time, something begins to change.

Paul describes the fruit of God’s Spirit as “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22–23).

The grace we have received begins shaping the people we are becoming.

So perhaps one way to ask, “Am I growing in my faith?” is to ask another question:

Is love growing in me?

We Help One Another Grow

Paul’s prayer in Philippians isn’t simply about individual growth.

He is writing to a community. He gives thanks for their partnership (Philippians 1:3–5). He prays for them. He speaks about the work God is doing among them.

Following Jesus was never meant to be something we do alone.

We need one another.

Scripture repeatedly describes Christian discipleship as a shared life. We are called to “encourage each other and build each other up” (1 Thessalonians 5:11), to “carry each other’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2), and to consider how we can “motivate each other to show love and to do good works” (Hebrews 10:24).

A healthy church, then, isn’t simply a building filled with individuals working on their own spiritual lives.

It is a community where we help one another grow.

It is a place where questions can be asked without embarrassment.

Where mistakes don’t have to define us.

Where someone who has followed Jesus for fifty years can still learn something new, and someone who is just beginning doesn’t have to pretend to have everything figured out.

It is a place where we encourage rather than compare.

Sometimes helping someone grow means encouraging them. Sometimes it means speaking “the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). Sometimes it means walking beside someone as they take a difficult step.

But we do all of this remembering that God is working on all of us.

We don’t need everyone to be in the same place.

We need to remain open to where God’s grace is leading next.

What Is Your Next Faithful Step?

That leaves each of us with a question:

What is my next faithful step?

Not someone else’s next step.

Mine.

Where is Christ calling me to follow?

Where is grace inviting me to grow?

Who has God placed around me to encourage me along the way?

Because we are all still becoming.

And we don’t have to become alone.

A Table for People Still Becoming

There is one more beautiful detail in Levi’s story.

Jesus is at the table.

Jesus is eating with people whose lives are unfinished.

That is a powerful image of grace—and it points toward something Christians continue to experience at the Communion table.

We don’t come to Communion because we have grown enough, figured everything out, or earned our place.

We come because Christ invites us.

In the United Methodist tradition, the Communion invitation describes Christ as inviting to the table all who love Christ, earnestly repent of their sin, and seek to live in peace with one another.

We come as people still learning.

Still growing.

Still being shaped by grace.

We come honestly, bringing the places where we still need healing, forgiveness, and change.

And we trust the promise:

“The one who started a good work in you will stay with you to complete the job.” — Philippians 1:6

God is not finished with us.

So perhaps the most important question isn’t:

“Have I arrived?”

Perhaps it is:

“Where is God’s grace inviting me to grow next?”

Whatever your answer may be, remember the table where Jesus sat with Levi.

Christ is still calling.

Grace is still working.

Love is still growing.

And nobody here is finished.

---

A Prayer for People Still Becoming

Gracious God,
thank you for meeting us where we are and loving us before we have everything figured out. Continue the good work you have begun in us. Heal what needs healing. Challenge what needs changing. Teach us where we still need to learn. Grow within us the love of Christ—for you, for our neighbors, and even for those we find difficult to love.

Give us courage to take our next faithful step, patience with those whose journey looks different from ours, and grace to encourage one another along the way.

Keep shaping us until your love becomes more fully visible in the way we live.

Amen.

Scripture for further reflection: Mark 2:13–17; Philippians 1:3–11; Philippians 2:12–13; Galatians 5:22–23; Ephesians 4:15–16; Hebrews 10:23–25.

Every person, every business, every community develops a reputation.

Mention a favorite restaurant and someone remembers the food. Mention a particular store and someone remembers how they were treated there.

Churches develop reputations too.

So here is a question worth asking: What do we hope the church is known for?

Friendly. Caring. Generous. A place where people belong?

Those are all good things. But Jesus invites us to ask a deeper question: What does it mean to be a community centered on Christ?

The Christian life begins with an invitation: “Follow me” (Matthew 4:19). It begins with grace—with God moving toward us before we ever move toward God. And people welcomed by grace learn to make room for others.

But what does that life increasingly look like?

Matthew’s Gospel gives us an answer when someone asks Jesus a deceptively simple question:

Out of everything God asks of us, what matters most?

Jesus Goes to the Heart

In Matthew 22:34–40, a legal expert asks Jesus:

“Teacher, what is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
— Matthew 22:36

By this point in Matthew’s Gospel, religious leaders have repeatedly challenged Jesus, and Matthew tells us that this question is another test.

But it is also an important question. With hundreds of commandments in the Law, Jewish teachers wrestled with how they fit together and what stood at the center.

In other words: What holds all of this together?

Jesus answers by drawing from two passages in the Hebrew Scriptures—Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18:

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You must love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
— Matthew 22:37–39

Then Jesus says something remarkable:

“All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”
— Matthew 22:40

Everything hangs here.

Like a door hanging on its hinges, everything else depends upon these two commands:

Love God. Love your neighbor.

Love is not simply one piece of the Christian life. Love is at the heart of the Christian life.

And if love is at the heart, Jesus’ answer raises a deeper question for anyone seeking to follow Christ:

What does it actually mean to love God with all that we are?

Love God With Your Whole Life

Jesus says:

“You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, and with all your mind.”
— Matthew 22:37

In other words, love God with all of you.

For some, loving God has been part of life for as long as they can remember. Others may still be discovering what it means to know or trust God. Wherever we find ourselves, Jesus describes a life increasingly turned toward God.

Our thoughts. Our desires. Our choices. Our relationships. Our priorities. The way we use our time and resources.

All of it.

Loving God with our whole lives means more than feeling affection for God. It means learning to trust God, seeking God in prayer and worship, listening for God’s direction, and allowing God’s love to shape what matters most to us.

Loving God is not something we add to the rest of our lives. Love for God begins to shape the way we live the rest of our lives.

That understanding is deeply rooted in the Wesleyan tradition.

John Wesley believed that the goal of Christian life was holiness. By holiness, Wesley was not talking about becoming more religious than everyone else. He was describing a life increasingly filled with love for God and love for others.

Jesus himself connects these things. Love God. Love your neighbor.

At the heart of holiness is love.

That gives us an important way to think about spiritual growth.

Sometimes we measure our faith by how much we know, how often we attend church, how many Bible studies we have completed, or how many years we have followed Jesus. Those things can help us grow, but they are not the goal.

The deeper question is:

Am I becoming more loving?

Jesus does not allow us to answer that question only by looking at our relationship with God. He refuses to separate love of God from love of neighbor.

Love Takes Shape in the Way We Live

First John puts the matter rather directly:

“Those who say, ‘I love God’ and hate their brothers or sisters are liars.”
— 1 John 4:20

Those are strong words. John is not giving Christians another group of people to condemn. He is confronting the contradiction of claiming love for God while refusing to love people.

Love of God becomes visible in the way we love people.

When Jesus says, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” he is quoting Leviticus 19:18. The surrounding verses show just how broad and concrete that love is.

God’s people are instructed to provide for the poor and the immigrant (Leviticus 19:9–10), not to steal or deceive (vv. 11–12), to pay workers fairly (v. 13), not to take advantage of people who are vulnerable (v. 14), to practice justice (v. 15), and not to stand by when another person’s life is threatened (v. 16).

These are not simply instructions for isolated acts of kindness. God is describing the kind of community God’s people are meant to become—a community whose life together is shaped by love.

In other words, biblical love is not simply a feeling.

Love does something.

Sometimes love listens. Sometimes love gives. Sometimes love protects. Sometimes love tells the truth. Sometimes love makes room. And sometimes love asks us to change.

Love seeks the good of another person, not simply the preservation of our own comfort.

That is where Jesus’ command becomes more challenging than it first sounds.

Love God.

Love your neighbor.

Simple enough to remember. Much harder to live.

There are people we find easy to love and others we struggle to understand. There are relationships where love is complicated. Some hurts cannot simply be brushed aside. Sometimes discerning what love requires takes prayer, wisdom, courage, forgiveness, justice, and healthy boundaries.

So what do we do with the truth that none of us loves perfectly?

We Are Still Learning to Love

Even after years of following Jesus, we discover places within ourselves where love still needs to grow.

We lose patience. We make assumptions. We hold onto resentment. We choose what is comfortable instead of what is loving.

Following Jesus is not something we finish. Neither is learning to love.

Perhaps, then, a better question than “Have I arrived?” is:

Where is God inviting my love to grow?

Maybe toward someone I find difficult to understand.

Maybe in a relationship where I need to listen more carefully.

Maybe in the way I speak about people with whom I disagree.

Maybe in making room for someone whose experience is different from mine.

Maybe even in learning to receive grace and love for myself.

John Wesley believed that God’s grace does not simply meet us once and then leave us on our own. God’s grace continues working within us, helping us grow in holiness and love.

Methodists traditionally call this sanctifying grace.

As Paul writes, God is at work within us, enabling us to desire and work toward what pleases God (Philippians 2:13).

God is still at work in us.

Still softening what has become hard.

Still healing what has been wounded.

Still challenging what has become self-centered.

Still teaching us how to love God and our neighbors more fully.

We have not arrived. We are being formed.

And if all of this leaves us thinking, I don’t love like that very well, the Christian life does not begin with our ability to love God or our neighbor.

It begins with God’s love for us.

We Love Because God First Loved Us

First John brings us back to the foundation:

“We love because God first loved us.”
— 1 John 4:19

Notice the order.

God loves first.

We do not love God so that God will love us. We do not love our neighbors to prove that we are good Christians. Holy love is not something we manufacture by simply trying harder.

God’s love comes first.

As Paul reminds us, “God shows his love for us, because while we were still sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

Grace meets us before we have everything figured out. Grace meets us before we have learned to love well.

And grace does not leave us where it found us.

God’s love meets us, works within us, and begins reshaping our hearts and lives. As we learn to trust that love, the love we receive begins to flow through us toward others.

Love received becomes love lived.

It becomes compassion when someone is hurting.

It becomes courage when someone needs an advocate.

It becomes listening when someone needs to be heard.

It becomes generosity when someone is in need.

It becomes truth when silence would be easier.

It becomes making room when our instinct is to protect our own place at the table.

Not perfectly. Not all at once.

But grace keeps shaping us toward holy love.

What Will We Be Known For?

So what do we hope Christians—and Christian communities—will be known for?

There are plenty of good answers.

But somewhere near the top of the list should be this:

They love.

Not simply that we talk about God’s love, but that people experience something of God’s love among us—in the way we speak, in the way we treat people with whom we disagree, in the way we care for those who are hurting, in the way we seek justice, and in the way we make room for one another.

Jesus told his disciples:

“This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.”
— John 13:35

Perhaps the question to carry with us, then, is not simply, “Do I love God?”

Perhaps it is:

“Where is God’s love inviting me to grow?”

We will not love perfectly. We are still being shaped, still learning, still following.

But we do not begin with our ability to love.

We begin with God’s love for us.

“We love because God first loved us.”
— 1 John 4:19

And by the grace of God, love received becomes love lived.

May that love shape us.

May that love become visible in us.

And may that be what followers of Jesus become known for.

Most of us know what happens when there are more people than places at the table.

Someone scoots over. Someone finds another chair. Plates get moved a little closer together. Another place setting appears.

Somehow, we make room.

And when we pull up another chair, we are saying more than, “There’s enough space.” We are saying, “There’s a place for you here.”

There is a difference between welcoming someone and actually making room for them. Making room means another person’s presence matters enough that we are willing to adjust. We move over. We create space. We make room not simply in the room, but in our lives.

That distinction matters for anyone trying to follow Jesus.

The Gospels repeatedly show Jesus making room for people others would rather keep at a distance. One of the clearest examples comes in Luke 5:27–32, where Jesus encounters a tax collector named Levi.

Before long, Jesus is sitting at a table surrounded by exactly the sort of people some believed should not be there.

Jesus Makes Room for Levi

The story begins with a familiar invitation. Jesus sees Levi sitting at a tax collection booth and says:

“Follow me.” — Luke 5:27

But notice who receives the invitation.

Levi is a tax collector.

Tax collectors were not simply unpopular in Jesus’ day. They worked within a system that collected money for Rome, the occupying power, and that system provided plenty of opportunity for dishonesty and exploitation. For many people, Levi would have been someone to avoid, not someone to invite into your circle.

Yet Jesus sees something others do not.

The people around Levi may have believed they already knew who he was and what kind of future was possible for someone like him. Jesus refuses to allow Levi’s past to determine the limits of Levi’s future. Jesus sees someone who can follow, grow, serve, and become part of what God is doing in the world.

So Jesus says, “Follow me.”

And Luke tells us:

“Leaving everything behind, Levi got up and followed him.” — Luke 5:28

Notice the order: grace comes first.

Jesus makes room for Levi before Levi has done anything to prove himself. Change will come—Jesus makes that clear later in the story—but change is not the price Levi pays to receive the invitation.

The relationship begins because Jesus makes room for him.

Then something beautiful happens.

The person for whom Jesus has made room begins making room for others.

Levi Pulls Up More Chairs

Luke tells us:

“Then Levi threw a great banquet for Jesus in his home. A large number of tax collectors and others sat down to eat with them.” — Luke 5:29

Levi has only just begun following Jesus, and one of the first things he does is create space for other people to meet him.

He does not abandon all his old relationships. He invites the people he already knows to share a table with Jesus.

Imagine that table.

These are people who probably know what it feels like to be avoided, judged, or kept at a distance. Now there is a place for them.

A chair has been pulled up. Food is being passed. Stories are being shared. And Jesus is right there in the middle of it all.

Perhaps this is one of the simplest pictures of evangelism we could imagine.

Levi does not have all the answers. He does not treat the people he knows like projects. He simply creates a place where they can encounter Jesus for themselves.

Sometimes that happens around an actual table. Sometimes it begins with a conversation, a friendship, a cup of coffee, or simply taking the time to hear someone’s story.

We make room for people to encounter the Christ who has made room for us.

But not everyone is pleased with Levi’s guest list.

When the Table Gets Uncomfortable

Luke tells us that the Pharisees and their legal experts complain to Jesus’ disciples:

“Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” — Luke 5:30

Their concern is not simply that Jesus talks to these people. Jesus eats with them.

In Jesus’ world, sharing a table communicated relationship and belonging. That is precisely what makes this meal uncomfortable.

Jesus keeps ending up at tables with the “wrong” people.

Before criticizing the Pharisees too quickly, however, it may be worth considering how naturally we do something similar. Most of us gravitate toward people we know and understand. We prefer the company of people who make us comfortable, share our assumptions, or see the world much as we do.

So Levi’s table raises an uncomfortable question:

Who could Jesus bring to the table that I would struggle to sit beside?

Who am I tempted to keep at a distance? Whose story have I already decided I understand? Who have I quietly concluded does not belong?

Jesus responds to the criticism:

“Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I didn’t come to call righteous people but sinners to change their hearts and lives.” — Luke 5:31–32

Jesus is not at Levi’s table because nothing matters.

Jesus is there because people matter.

The table is not the end of discipleship. It creates space where discipleship can begin.

Jesus comes near. Relationships form. Grace works. Hearts and lives begin to change.

Grace creates places where transformation can happen.

Sometimes that place is as ordinary as a table with another chair pulled up.

Welcome Is More Than Being Friendly

Paul offers a similar vision in his letter to the Romans:

“So welcome each other, in the same way that Christ also welcomed you, for God’s glory.” — Romans 15:7

Paul is writing to Christians who do not always agree. They come from different backgrounds, hold different convictions, and have different understandings about how their faith should be lived out (Romans 14:1–6).

Apparently, making room for one another was no easier for the early church than it is today.

Paul does not pretend their differences are meaningless. Nor does he tell them to determine who is right and ask everyone else to leave.

Instead, he calls them to a way of life in which our own preferences do not always come first:

“We who are powerful need to be patient with the weakness of those who don’t have power, and not please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good in order to build them up.” — Romans 15:1–2

Sometimes love asks us to adjust. Sometimes love asks us to listen to someone whose experience is different from our own. Sometimes love asks us to move over and make room.

That does not mean ignoring healthy boundaries or pretending that harmful behavior is harmless. Christian hospitality does not require abandoning wisdom, accountability, or safety.

But hospitality does require more than toleration.

Toleration says, “I suppose you can stay.”

Hospitality says, “There is room for you here.”

Levi’s story pushes that idea even further. The person beside us is not simply someone we allow into the community. They are someone Christ may be calling, shaping, and using as part of the community.

We are not people graciously making space for outsiders at our table.

We are all people for whom Christ has made space.

Who Is Missing From the Table?

That brings the question closer to home.

Who is already in your life for whom there might be room for a deeper relationship?

Whose story have you never really heard?

Who do you see regularly but rarely notice?

Who might need someone to move over and pull up a chair?

It does not have to begin with something dramatic.

Notice one person. Learn one name. Hear one story. Share one meal. Ask one question and stay long enough to hear the answer.

Because we never know what God might do in the space we create when another person discovers, “There is room for me here.”

And perhaps you are not ready to pull up a chair for someone else. Perhaps what you need most today is to know that Christ has made room for you.

That is where Christian hospitality begins.

Not with our ability to be sufficiently welcoming. Not with our determination to become better people. Not with our ability to earn a place at the table.

It begins with grace.

Christ sees us. Christ calls us. Christ welcomes us. And those who discover they have been welcomed by grace can begin extending that grace to others.

As Paul writes:

“So welcome each other, in the same way that Christ also welcomed you, for God’s glory.” — Romans 15:7

Grace received becomes hospitality offered.

So look around your table. Look around your neighborhood, workplace, community, and everyday life.

And ask a simple question:

Is there room for one more?

Maybe there is one more chair to pull up.

One more story to hear.

One more person to see.

Because Christ has made room for us.

And people who gather around Christ’s table will always be learning how to pull up another chair.

---

Scripture References: Luke 5:27–32; Romans 14:1–6; Romans 15:1–7

Following Jesus: A Church Centered on Christ

Scripture: Luke 19:1–10; Titus 3:3–7

So much of life seems to work in a certain order.

You prove yourself, then you’re accepted. You work hard, and then you’re rewarded. You meet the expectations, and then you belong.

We learn it pretty early in life. Get the grades. Make the team. Do the job well. Say the right things. Meet the expectations.

After a while, it’s easy to begin believing that acceptance is something we have to earn.

Sometimes we even bring that same way of thinking into our relationship with God. We imagine that we need to get our lives together first. Make better choices. Become a little more faithful, a little more loving, a little more like the person we think God wants us to be.

Then maybe we’ll be ready for God.

But grace works in a very different order.

In Luke 19:1–10, Jesus encounters a man named Zacchaeus. His life is complicated. His choices have affected other people. His reputation in the community isn’t good.

Most of us know what eventually happens: Zacchaeus changes.

But the most surprising part of the story may be when he changes.

Before Zacchaeus changes anything, Jesus sees him.

Jesus calls him by name.

And Jesus invites himself to his house.

Grace comes first. Transformation follows.

The Person Behind the Label

Everybody in Jericho already knows who Zacchaeus is. Luke tells us that he isn’t simply a tax collector. He is a chief tax collector, and he is rich (Luke 19:2).

Tax collectors worked within the Roman system, collecting money from their own people on behalf of an occupying power. The system also provided plenty of opportunity to collect more than was owed and keep the difference.

Zacchaeus hasn’t merely survived within that system. Apparently, he has done quite well for himself.

So the people of Jericho already have him figured out. They have a word for him: sinner.

When Jesus announces that he is going to Zacchaeus’ house, the crowd grumbles:

“He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
—Luke 19:7

They don’t say, “Zacchaeus.”

They say, “a sinner.”

We can do the same thing.

We take one thing we know about someone—a choice they’ve made, a struggle they’ve had, something they’ve done, or a group they belong to—and allow that one thing to become their whole story.

Divorced. Addict. Immigrant. Republican. Democrat. Troublemaker.

Sometimes a label may tell us something that is true. Zacchaeus really has made choices that have hurt people. Later in the story, even he seems to acknowledge that (Luke 19:8).

But a label can tell us something about a person without telling us everything about that person.

The crowd looks up into the tree and sees everything they already believe about Zacchaeus.

Jesus looks up and sees Zacchaeus.

The crowd sees a category.

Jesus sees a person.

Jesus Looks Up

Zacchaeus climbs a tree because he wants to see Jesus (Luke 19:3–4). But then something happens that changes the whole story:

“When Jesus came to that spot, he looked up…”
—Luke 19:5

Zacchaeus thinks he is looking for Jesus.

But Jesus is already looking for Zacchaeus.

Jesus stops. Jesus looks up. Jesus sees him. And then Jesus calls him by name:

“Zacchaeus, come down at once. I must stay in your home today.”
—Luke 19:5

Notice the order.

Zacchaeus hasn’t confessed anything. He hasn’t given any money away. He hasn’t made things right with anyone he may have harmed. He hasn’t done anything to prove that he deserves Jesus’ attention.

Jesus comes near first.

That’s grace.

In the Wesleyan tradition, we call this prevenient grace—the grace of God that goes before us.

Before we recognize God, God is already reaching toward us. Before we take a step toward Christ, Christ has already taken a step toward us.

Titus describes it this way:

“When God our Savior’s kindness and love appeared, he saved us because of his mercy, not because of righteous things we had done.”
—Titus 3:4–5

Titus gives us the theology.

Zacchaeus shows us what it looks like.

Grace walks right up to the tree. Grace looks up. Grace calls him by name. Grace comes home with him.

Grace comes first. Transformation follows.

Grace Changes Us

Grace coming first doesn’t mean that nothing in Zacchaeus’ life needs to change.

Something happens when Jesus comes near.

Zacchaeus says:

“Look, Lord, I give half of my possessions to the poor. And if I have cheated anyone, I repay them four times as much.”
—Luke 19:8

That’s not a small adjustment.

Grace is reshaping the way Zacchaeus lives—his relationship with money, with his neighbors, and with anyone he may have harmed.

But once again, notice the order.

Jesus doesn’t stand beneath the tree and demand that Zacchaeus prove he has changed before Jesus will come to his house.

Jesus comes near first (Luke 19:5–6).

Grace isn’t God overlooking everything in our lives that needs to change. Grace is much more powerful than that.

Grace meets us where we are and continues working within us. God’s grace forgives, restores, and reshapes us as we grow in love of God and neighbor.

As Paul writes, “it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13).

Grace isn’t God’s reward for transformation. Grace is God’s power that makes transformation possible.

Grace Changes How We See People

Zacchaeus isn’t the only person being challenged in this story.

There’s also the crowd.

They have already decided who belongs and who doesn’t (Luke 19:7). Churches can fall into the same pattern.

Who belongs?

Who is ready?

Who believes enough?

Who has changed enough?

Who has their life together enough?

But a church centered on Christ learns to see people the way Jesus sees them.

Remember the tree.

The crowd looked up and saw a sinner.

Jesus looked up and saw Zacchaeus.

That’s the kind of vision grace gives us.

Grace teaches us to see people not simply for where they are right now, but as people created and loved by God—and as people in whom God’s grace is still at work.

From the beginning of Scripture, human beings are described as created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27). The labels we give one another can never tell the whole story of a person who bears that image.

That doesn’t mean discipleship doesn’t matter. Zacchaeus makes that clear. Encountering Jesus changes the direction of his life (Luke 19:8–9).

But we have to remember the order.

Welcome isn’t the reward people receive after transformation. Welcome creates space where grace can begin transforming lives.

That’s what it means to be a church where grace comes first.

None of us is finished yet.

Every one of us is still being shaped by grace. Every one of us is still learning to follow. Every one of us still has a next faithful step.

We trust that the God who began a good work in us continues that work in us (Philippians 1:6).

A church where grace comes first isn’t a gathering of people who have already arrived.

It is a community of people who have been welcomed by grace, are being changed by grace, and are learning to offer that same grace to one another.

There Is Still a Next Step

Jesus’ invitation to the first disciples was simple:

“Follow me.”
—Matthew 4:19

But the story of Zacchaeus reminds us that even before we begin following Jesus, Jesus has already come toward us.

Grace comes first.

As 1 John puts it, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).

Yet grace doesn’t leave Zacchaeus sitting in the tree. Jesus says:

“Zacchaeus, come down.”
—Luke 19:5

That’s his next step.

Once Zacchaeus responds, grace begins reaching into every part of his life—his home, his possessions, his relationships, even the places where harm may have been done (Luke 19:6–8).

The same is true for us.

Some of us have been following Jesus for decades. Some may still be trying to figure out what following Jesus means. Even after years of following, we continue discovering what faithfulness looks like in new seasons and circumstances.

Following Jesus when life is going well may look different from following Jesus through grief, uncertainty, illness, or change. New situations ask something new of our faith.

Discipleship is never something we finish.

We keep listening. We keep learning. We keep growing.

And through it all, God’s grace continues to meet us and invite us forward.

There is always a next faithful step.

Maybe it’s something that needs to change.

Maybe it’s a relationship that needs healing.

Maybe it’s someone we need to see differently.

Maybe it’s simply trusting that God’s grace really is for us.

Whatever that step may be, we don’t take it to earn God’s grace.

We take it because grace has already come near.

Grace comes first. And then grace invites us to follow.

This post is part of our series, Following Jesus: A Church Centered on Christ*, exploring what it means for a congregation—and for each of us—to center our life on Jesus and continue taking the next faithful step.*

Scripture references: Luke 19:1–10; Titus 3:3–7; Genesis 1:26–27; Matthew 4:19; Philippians 1:6; Philippians 2:13; 1 John 4:19.