Jesus, Lover of All People
Matthew 19:11 “Behold a gluttonous man and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!
Our Lord Jesus loves all people. He love those who eat too much, those who drink too much, those caught up in the lust for money… He loves all us sinners.
It is easy to forget this kind of love, a love for everyone. It’s much easier to be judgmental especially of those who don’t do what we do. Those who just don’t ‘measure-up’ to the type of Christian that we think they should be… too often we cast aside… Many church-people believe that they have to ‘keep up with the Jones’ which of course is pride and hypocrisy…
The people in the streets, those who don’t know the Lord as their Savior, they pick up on this… they hunger for peace, for joy, for something to change in their lives but they refuse to listen to church-people because ‘all they do is preach-down to us’… will anyone show them Christ’s love instead?
How different was Christ’s response… how different his actions… remember his only harsh words were with the believing-hypocrites of his day… the religious… are you religious today?
Will you step out and love a sinner today? Will you stop and talk to someone who is smoking a cigarette? Or will you cast them away… because ‘it’s bad for your health to be associated with’ and you don’t care to ‘smell like smoke’… ‘What would others think’... Will you have lunch them… or maybe it should be phrased… will they have lunch with you?
The above is just an example… there are so many more…
How different Asian, African, and the few Chinese preachers are… they don’t care what people think… they have no building, no budget, and many times poor clothing and no food… and yet everyday they preach to the poor, they love everyone, even those who beat them… and thousands are converted…
How different some American Christians are to them… or to the teachings of Jesus Christ…
Our Lord Jesus loves all people. He love those who eat too much, those who drink too much, those caught up in the lust for money… He loves all us sinners.
It is easy to forget this kind of love, a love for everyone. It’s much easier to be judgmental especially of those who don’t do what we do. Those who just don’t ‘measure-up’ to the type of Christian that we think they should be… too often we cast aside… Many church-people believe that they have to ‘keep up with the Jones’ which of course is pride and hypocrisy…
The people in the streets, those who don’t know the Lord as their Savior, they pick up on this… they hunger for peace, for joy, for something to change in their lives but they refuse to listen to church-people because ‘all they do is preach-down to us’… will anyone show them Christ’s love instead?
How different was Christ’s response… how different his actions… remember his only harsh words were with the believing-hypocrites of his day… the religious… are you religious today?
Will you step out and love a sinner today? Will you stop and talk to someone who is smoking a cigarette? Or will you cast them away… because ‘it’s bad for your health to be associated with’ and you don’t care to ‘smell like smoke’… ‘What would others think’... Will you have lunch them… or maybe it should be phrased… will they have lunch with you?
The above is just an example… there are so many more…
How different Asian, African, and the few Chinese preachers are… they don’t care what people think… they have no building, no budget, and many times poor clothing and no food… and yet everyday they preach to the poor, they love everyone, even those who beat them… and thousands are converted…
How different some American Christians are to them… or to the teachings of Jesus Christ…
posted by Michael Byrd at 5:38 AM
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