His physical posture is changed from sitting in the receipt of custom, to standing and following Jesus. His identity is changed from Levi, “joined” to this world and sin, to Matthew, a “gift of God.” His mindset is changed from self-indulgent to self-denying. And his purpose is changed from living for himself to living for God.

God does love us. There is no denying that. But we cannot dismiss the fact that God doesn’t want to force us to love him. The Bible is clear that we have to choose to believe in Jesus and love God back for what he’s done for us.