Matthew complete

I have just finished reading Matthew. What an awesome gospel. I love this book. If I can recommend anything, it's reading big chunks of text – even whole books – at one sitting. Matthew was too much for me, but I managed it in three sittings (I'm a slow reader, with a 2 year old kid!). The Jesus represented here is so different from the one I hear about often in the media and at church. He's radical, daring, bold and courageous. He's compassionate and kind. He does not suffer fools and applies great wisdom.

I really had to wrestle with some of the text, especially when it came to the place of the chosen people of God. I knew the importance of Israel in God's eyes, but I really didn't appreciate it until I read this gospel. Jesus strongly, passionately, walked in obedience to what his calling was that people often took it as insolence and arrogance. He knew who his Father was and He unashamedly carried out His Father's business.

I know the Bible wasn't written to me, or for me, but the inspired Word of God to reveal His character and His purpose. And if you allow the Bible to speak to you, and change you in your thinking, it has the power to transform. Reading the Bible in this way is uncomfortable and can be irritating – challenging us to our very core.

Reading Matthew, I began to get revelation that demons also worship Jesus; that proclaiming and confessing his name is not enough; that God calls us into something so much higher and more important. It starts with worship and then moves on to simple, child-like obedience.

It's so wonderful to get to know the God of the Bible: His passions, His purpose and His calling. He's the one I will follow. However, I may get very broken along the way!