As we move past Christmas, we will continue to look at more of what we have learned from the book of Matthew.  We learned that just like John the Baptist, there are some great men, and women, who can point us to Jesus, but they cannot save us.  We can only point people to Christ, and as followers of Christ, this is our assigned purpose.  All that we do should point people to Christ.  We know that Jesus called twelve ordinary men to be His closest disciples.  This was not because they were more worthy than anyone else by their own nature or abilities, but they became more because of their relationship with Christ.  No matter how closely we walk with Jesus, we can never claim to be better than anyone else based in our own goodness.  We can also say that like Judas, not all who claim to be close to Jesus really believe in Him.  I know that we could say none of the disciples truly believed until after Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, but the were not following Him simply for their own benefit, as I believe Judas was.  There are those today who proclaim that if we follow Jesus we will benefit materially, but all God's word ever promises is a cross and that our daily needs will be met.  Relying on God to meet our needs daily is not the same as relying on God to fulfill our wants daily.  The disciples left everything to follow Jesus.  They did this because Jesus asked them to do so.  Though I don't believe that as followers of Christ we need to leave our job, home, or family in order to follow Jesus, we must be willing to do so if He calls us to.  We must not allow anything to come between God and us.  We know that some of the disciples were more outspoken in their profession of faith than others, but their actions often failed to back up their words when their faith was tested.  We need to ensure that we are not the same way.