Some men get a second chance because they deserve one. Matthew got his while he was still sitting at the dirty political desk that made him a social outcast. Matthew was a tax collector. These local shakedown men in first-century Judea were not simply disliked. They were considered traitors, Jews who had been co-opted by Rome, were collecting money from their own people to fund a foreign occupation, and were widely assumed to pad their earnings along the way. To call someone a tax collector was to place them in the same category as the worst kind of sinner, someone respectable people avoided in public. That was Matthew's profession when Jesus walked up to his booth. Jesus didn't approach him quietly or through an intermediary. He came directly to where Matthew was sitting, doing the job that made him an outcast, and said two words: "Follow me" (Matt 9:9). Scripture tells us what happened next in the same simple terms used for the fishermen who left their nets: Matthew got up and followed him. The comparison matters. Peter and Andrew left a humble trade. Matthew left a very profitable, settled political position, the kind of security most people spend their lives trying to build, and he walked away from it without hesitation the moment Jesus called his name. What Matthew did immediately afterward tells you something important about the kind of man Jesus had just called. He didn't quietly disappear from his old life. He threw a dinner and invited his former colleagues and friends, the very tax collectors and people labeled "sinners" by respectable society, to come and meet Jesus at his own table (Matt 9:10). Matthew wanted the people he knew best, the ones everyone else had written off, to encounter the man who had just called him by name. The religious leaders who saw this were appalled. They asked Jesus's disciples why their teacher would eat with people like that. Jesus answered them directly, in words that have echoed through the centuries since: "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick... For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners" (Matt 9:12-13). That single statement reframes everything about who Jesus came for. Matthew wasn't an unfortunate exception to Jesus's ministry. He was exactly the kind of person Jesus came looking for. Matthew's legacy doesn't end with his call. He went on to write one of the four Gospels, the only disciple among the Twelve to leave behind an extended written account bearing his own name. His Gospel is noticeably attentive to Jewish law and the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, the kind of careful, document-minded attention you might expect from a man who had spent years working with records, contracts, and the details of Roman taxation. The skills that once made him useful to an occupying empire became, in God's hands, the skills that helped preserve and transmit the story of Jesus to every generation since. If you've ever felt like the kind of person respectable faith doesn't have room for, the one whose past or profession or reputation seems to disqualify you before you've even tried, Matthew's story is worth holding onto. Jesus didn't call him after he cleaned up his life. He called him at his booth, in the middle of the work that made him an outcast, and Matthew's response was to get up immediately and then bring everyone he knew along with him. That is still how the call tends to work. Jesus does not wait at a distance for people to become acceptable before he approaches them. He walks directly up to the booth and says the same two words he said to Matthew: follow me.

BACK TO THE BIBLE DAILY What does real love look like? In this episode of Back to the Bible Daily, Braden Pedersen explores the biblical definition of love, drawing from 1 Corinthians 13 and 1 John. Discover how love is more than a feeling—it's an action rooted in God's example and one of the greatest gifts we can experience. SPIRITUALLY FIT | TODAY What does it take to build true spiritual endurance? In this episode of Spiritually Fit Today, Arnie Cole and Mike Heili explore how unseen daily habits and strict training—both in Ironman competitions and faith—shape lasting spiritual strength. Drawing from 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Mike shares practical insights on discipline, motivation, and the power of unseen reps in your walk with God. ADDITIONAL STEPS: STEP 1 - RECEIVE (Receive God's Word and Grow in Bible Knowledge) The people in leadership in the church have a big responsibility. As a result, they should be people of exceptional character. In his letter to Timothy, Paul outlines these qualifications. In addition, he shares some things to be on guard for in the last days. STEP 2 - REFLECT (How does this Scripture Apply to your life?) When something is described as a "big green monster" it's probably not a good thing to hold on to. Yet many of us keep hold of jealousy in one form or another. And it's destroying us. Shannon is here today with some encouragement from the Bible to help you let go of that monster, and embrace God's grace. STEP 3 - RESPOND (How will you Win Today?) You’re scrolling through your phone, enjoying your day, when suddenly, a friend’s post lights up your “envy button”! What do you do with this powerful emotion? Donna Amidon walks you through some important biblical steps to keep your perspective in check and envy at bay! The next time you feel that twinge of envy, stop what you’re doing, confess it to God, and even share it with a trusted friend. Then, shift your focus from what you lack to what you have—and give thanks for the many ways God has blessed you.  STEP 4 - REVEAL (How will you reveal Jesus to others today through praying and sharing?) Once we learn and grow, it's time to share what we know. Join Nick as he prays for opportunities to share what we've learned about God with others. BONUS STEP Click HERE for your DAILY FORWARD DEVOTIONAL

When something is described as a "big green monster" it's probably not a good thing to hold on to. Yet many of us keep hold of jealousy in one form or another. And it's destroying us. Shannon is here today with some encouragement from the Bible to help you let go of that monster, and embrace God's grace.

You’re scrolling through your phone, enjoying your day, when suddenly, a friend’s post lights up your “envy button”! What do you do with this powerful emotion? Donna Amidon walks you through some important biblical steps to keep your perspective in check and envy at bay! The next time you feel that twinge of envy, stop what you’re doing, confess it to God, and even share it with a trusted friend. Then, shift your focus from what you lack to what you have—and give thanks for the many ways God has blessed you.

The people in leadership in the church have a big responsibility. As a result, they should be people of exceptional character. In his letter to Timothy, Paul outlines these qualifications. In addition, he shares some things to be on guard for in the last days.

Read Ruth 4:9-10 (ESV) Then Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought from the hand of Naomi all that belonged to Elimelech and all that belonged to Chilion and to Mahlon. Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.” Reflect How do you see the love of Christ reflected in the story of Ruth and Boaz? God gives us a glimpse of just how much He loves us by putting a love story in His Word—the book of Ruth. Remember from yesterday that the time of the judges was a mostly dark time during Israel’s history. The people were overwhelmingly unfaithful to the Lord. And yet, in the midst of the violence, evil, and ugliness of sin that we find in Judges, we see a sliver of beauty and hope in Ruth’s story. The story begins in the time of the judges when there is a famine in the land, likely as discipline from the Lord. A Jewish man named Elimelech, his wife, Naomi, and their two sons flee from the famine in Bethlehem to Moab (enemy territory) in an attempt to survive. Unfortunately, while there, he dies and leaves Naomi a widow. His two sons marry Moabite wives named Orpah and Ruth but unfortunately, the sons die and leave their wives childless widows as well. At this point, Naomi bitterly felt as if God must not be on her side but she couldn’t have been more wrong! She heard that the famine in Israel has passed so she decided to return to Bethlehem. She urged her daughters-in-law to stay in Moab and remarry. So Orpah kissed Naomi good-bye and left her. But Ruth refused to leave Naomi’s side. She said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). Ruth had every opportunity to selfishly look out for her own interests. As a young widow, remarriage was her only hope of financial security. But she selflessly pledged to leave her own home and gods behind to remain faithful to her mother-in-law and friend, Naomi. Significantly, she also vowed to serve Naomi’s God, Yahweh, instead of the pagan gods of the Moabites. Notice the contrast between the faithfulness of Ruth (a foreigner) and the unfaithfulness toward God of many of Israelites at that time. When they arrived in Bethlehem, it was the barley harvest. Because they were poor widows, Jewish law allowed them to glean grain that was left on the edges of the fields or that had fallen to the ground in the harvest (Leviticus 19:9-10). As God’s providence would have it, Ruth ended up gleaning in a field that belonged to a relative of Naomi’s husband. His name was Boaz. Now, Boaz had heard of Ruth’s faithfulness to his relative, Naomi as well as her decision to turn to the Lord, the God of Israel. As a result, he was happy to grant her permission to glean his field and ensure her safety. There is a bright Scarlet Thread of redemption in the story of Ruth and Boaz. In Ruth 2:20, Naomi told Ruth that Boaz was a close relative, one of their “redeemers.” Leviticus 25:23-25 explains property redemption to ensure that property remains in a family in the event someone dies or is financially at risk of losing the land. Deuteronomy 25:5-6 explains the law concerning a “levirate marriage” which made provision for a man’s brother (or close relative in Boaz’s case) to marry the widow and provide an heir for his dead relative. At Naomi’s urging, Ruth approached Boaz and asked him to be their kinsman redeemer, to which he agreed. Boaz redeemed or bought back the land that belonged to Naomi’s husband and agreed to marry Ruth. This marriage ensured that any child born to Ruth and Boaz would be an heir for Elimelech, Naomi’s late husband. In Ruth 4, we read that Ruth and Boaz end up having a child which brought great happiness to grandma Naomi. The Lord’s hand had not been against her all this time, after all! But wait, there’s even more. The book of Ruth ends with a genealogy. Ruth and Boaz’s son was named Obed, who became the father of Jesse, who became the father of King David. And as we read on in the next few days, we’ll discover that Our Redeemer, Jesus Christ, comes from that very same family line. Friends, can you see how God blessed the faithfulness of Ruth? A foreign woman went from poverty and childlessness to belonging to a wealthy, land-owning family and a mother in the line of King David and eventually, the Messiah. That kind of blessing is available to us too. By Jesus’ blood we have been redeemed out of our sin and brought into the family of God. Praise God for His faithful love toward us! His love redeems. Respond Lord, thank You for Your faithful love. Thank You for loving me so much that You were willing to suffer and die to redeem me from the curse of my sin and bring me into the family of God (Galatians 3:13-14). Amen. Reveal Share the story of Ruth with someone who wonders if God can redeem their past. Encourage them with the truth that our Redeemer welcomes all who trust Him, and thank God together for bringing us into His family through Christ.

Once we learn and grow, it's time to share what we know. Join Nick as he prays for opportunities to share what we've learned about God with others.

There is a quality that runs through the life of every Christian who has ever grown deeply into the image of Christ, and it is easy to overlook because it does not announce itself. It is humility. It is the quiet, settled recognition of who God is and who we are, and the willingness to live inside that reality without pretense. Every other Christian virtue is built on it. Without it, the other virtues become counterfeits. With it, ordinary faithfulness becomes something beautiful. The Bible has more to say about humility than we usually notice. It is not a peripheral theme. It is one of the central marks of a person who actually knows God. Isaiah puts it plainly. “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit’” (Isaiah 57:15). Read that verse again. The God who inhabits eternity, who is high and lifted up, who dwells in unapproachable light, has told us where else He dwells. He dwells with the humble. That is a stunning statement, and it should reorient how we think about the Christian life. Nearness to God is not primarily a matter of technique or effort. It is a matter of posture. God draws near to those who have taken a low place, and He resists those who have not. That resistance is not a small matter. James and Peter both quote the same Old Testament passage to make sure we do not miss it. “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5). Notice the verb. God does not merely prefer the humble. He opposes the proud. He sets Himself against them. That means every believer who is holding on to pride is finding, whether they realize it or not, that the very grace they need is being withheld until they let it go. There is no way around this. The path forward for the proud is not a bigger effort. It is a bowed knee. We must be careful to define humility rightly. Humility is not thinking little of ourselves. It is not a chronic sense of unworthiness or a habit of self-deprecation. It is not a personality trait that some are born with and others are not. Humility is thinking rightly about God and rightly about ourselves in light of Him. It is seeing the truth. The proud person sees a distorted picture in which they are larger than they are. The humble person sees clearly, and clarity always produces a certain smallness before the God who is genuinely infinite. Humility is not pretending to be small. It is knowing that we are, and living in that reality without embarrassment. Consider the picture Paul paints of Christ. “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:5–8). This is the highest example of humility in all of history, and it belongs not to a man striving upward but to God the Son moving downward. The one who had every reason to grasp for glory laid it aside. The one who deserved a throne took a cross. If Christ is our model, then humility is not a diminishing of who we are. It is a Christlike willingness to serve without needing to be seen. Notice also what Paul does with this. He does not merely describe Christ’s humility as an inspiring story. He calls us to imitate it. “Have this mind among yourselves.” The humility of Christ is meant to shape the humility of His people. That means Christian humility is not optional. It is not for the shy or the naturally soft-spoken. It is the mind of Christ formed in every believer by the Spirit of God, and it will show up in how we treat one another, how we handle disagreement, how we respond to being overlooked, how we act when we are given power. The Old Testament makes the same point in different words. “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8). Walk humbly with your God. That phrase carries a lifetime of Christian discipleship in it. To walk with God is to move through your days aware of His presence, listening to His Word, submitting to His will. To do it humbly is to do it without pretense, without inflation, without the constant need to be recognized, defended, or admired. It is to know that we are creatures, and that our Creator is worthy of the low posture our nature actually calls for. The Christian life offers many opportunities to see whether we have humility or only its appearance. Real humility shows up when we are criticized. It does not need to retaliate. It can receive correction, sift it for what is true, and let go of what is not, without needing to defend the ego. False humility looks contrite in public but bristles in private. Real humility receives even harsh words with steadiness, because its identity is not at stake in the moment. It has already been settled in Christ. Real humility shows up in how we treat those who cannot help us. The proud man is polite to those who have something to offer him and dismissive of those who do not. The humble man treats the janitor and the CEO with the same respect, because he knows both are made in the image of God, and neither one is a rung on his personal ladder. Jesus said it plainly. “But many who are first will be last, and the last first” (Matthew 19:30). The kingdom of God will invert every worldly measure of importance, and the person who has been quietly serving without being seen is going to find themselves closer to the throne than the person who spent their life climbing. Real humility shows up in how we handle being wrong. This is one of the surest tests. The humble person can say “I was wrong” without it costing them anything, because their sense of self is not tied to being right. The proud person cannot form the words, or forms them with so many qualifications that they mean nothing. If you cannot admit fault easily, cleanly, and quickly, humility is not yet the ruling posture of your heart, however you may feel about your other virtues. Real humility shows up in how we approach God in prayer. The tax collector in Jesus’ parable stood at a distance, would not even lift his eyes to heaven, and beat his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner” (Luke 18:13). Jesus said that man went home justified, while the proud Pharisee, who thanked God for how good he was, did not. The prayers God hears are prayers offered from a low place. They are not eloquent. They are not lengthy. They are honest confessions of need, offered by people who know they have nothing to bring except their empty hands. That is the posture God receives. There is a promise attached to this that we should not miss. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you” (1 Peter 5:6). God is not asking us to humble ourselves so that we will stay low forever. He is asking us to trust Him with the timing and the manner of our elevation. The one who tries to promote himself will be brought low. The one who humbles himself, and waits, and serves faithfully in the meantime, will be lifted at the proper time by the hand of God, and no power in heaven or earth can undo what that hand raises up. We must also see that humility is not the enemy of courage or conviction. Some think a humble Christian is a soft one, unwilling to take a stand or speak the truth. That is not humility. That is timidity, and it can coexist with a great deal of pride. Real humility often requires the most courage, because it is willing to say the hard thing without needing to be admired for saying it. Elijah was humble, and he stood alone before four hundred prophets of Baal. Paul was humble, and he confronted apostles when they compromised the gospel. John the Baptist was humble, and he called a king to repent, knowing it might cost him his head. Humility is not the absence of backbone. It is a backbone that has been placed in service to God rather than to self. The path to humility is not complicated, but it is not easy. It comes through knowing God more clearly. The more we see who He is, the smaller we grow, and the smaller we grow, the more room there is for Him to fill our lives with the kind of joy and freedom that pride can never touch. It comes through remembering the cross. The one who sees clearly what Christ endured for their sake cannot easily hold on to a puffed-up view of themselves. It comes through daily surrender, the small acts of yielding to God’s will in the ordinary decisions of ordinary days, which slowly wear down the resistance of the flesh and leave a soul more pliable in His hands. “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’” (1 Peter 5:5). Put it on like a garment. Wear it in every relationship. Let it be the first thing others meet in you. Do not be embarrassed by it. In a world that celebrates self-promotion, self-assertion, and self-actualization, the humble Christian is one of the most countercultural people alive, and one of the most beautiful. They look like Christ. And there is no higher praise than that. Join me on Back to the Bible Daily every weekday for bite-sized Bible teaching to center your day on God’s Word.

As Paul continues his letter to Timothy, he reminds the young pastor that no one is to stand between God and His children. In His grace, He has allowed us access to his very throne through prayer. Paul goes on to discuss church customs and how they can draw attention away from God if we are not careful.

Want self-control? Start practicing it! Seth Walker coaches us on developing self-control with a few simple first steps to get us on the road to physical, mental, and spiritual fitness. Start today to practice self-control with something simple. Maybe it’s saying no to dessert. Or driving the speed limit all day. How about limiting your time on social media? Start now. Start simple!