I get excited when I discover things in God’s Word.

And I’m not talking about when I understand a passage. I mean, that does excite me, but that’s not what I mean here.

I’m talking about when I see a bit of how a writer has constructed and arranged their writing. Why have they used that word? Or that phrase? Why have they placed this particular account here?

It’s these little nuggets that bring Scripture alive to me….that make it feel like a mine with so many precious gems to discover…that keep me coming back for more and more.

Last week I discovered one such nugget in Matthew’s gospel…

Matthew 9:9 – Jesus calls Matthew to follow him, and Matthew got up and followed him.

Matthew got up and followed.

Look up a few verses to the preceding story – Jesus healing the paralysed man.

Look at the language Matthew uses.

Jesus said to the paralysed man, ‘Get up, take your mat and go home.’

Then the man got up and went home.

Now, and you might disagree, but it seems that Matthew is making a point.

In the same way that it took a miracle of Jesus for the paralysed man to get up and walk, so it took a miracle of Jesus for Matthew to get up and walk.

Put another way, what was going on in Matthew’s life was just a great a miracle as what was going on in the paralysed man’s life.

Or, put another way, both men were paralysed and required Jesus to heal them.

Anytime Jesus breaks into someone’s life, He has been powerfully at work.

When Jesus breathes new life into someone….

When Jesus transforms hard hearts into soft hearts…

When Jesus turns someone’s life around, often times bringing their old life to an abrupt halt and then starting them out in a new direction…

When Jesus convinces someone of their sinful, rebellious hearts…of their need for forgiveness…

Anytime someone says YES to Jesus, He has been powerfully…miraculously at work.

Why not take a moment to reflect on your journey…how God called you…and thank Him for the miraculous gift of being able to walk after Jesus.