Today’s Podcast
Today’s Bible reading plan:
Read it in a year – 2 Chronicles 6-10
see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)
Today’s Devotional
Luke 5:31-32
Jesus (answering for the disciples): Healthy people don’t need a doctor, but sick people do. I haven’t come for the pure and upstanding; I’ve come to call notorious sinners to rethink their lives and turn to God.
What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?
We have done something as Christians I’m not sure Jesus would be too happy about. What is it? We cling together in little conclaves and hide ourselves away from the world when it comes to exploring God’s word. We get together with other Christians in our churches and cathedrals and we teach each other if we learn anything about scriptures at all. We build these beautiful and sometimes not so beautiful buildings, but then we put up a cross on the roof or on the side of the building or on a sign outside and expect people to come inside and find God.
But Jesus didn’t work that way when He was with us. He attended the synagogues on the Sabbath wherever He happened to be at the time. He went to the Temple whenever He was in Jerusalem. But to share the message His Father intended Him to share with the world, He went to the places people gathered and that was not the synagogues and temple. He taught in the markets and on the seashore. He picked hillsides and the homes of prominent and not so prominent people. He taught whenever and wherever people gathered to hear Him.
He went to the people because He knew people needed to hear the message and knew those who needed to hear the message most would not come to the temple or synagogue to hear it. Like Adam, they would hide from God rather than come into His presence for cleansing. If Jesus was going to help them, He would have to go to them. And unlike most physicians today, Jesus made house calls.
So we find Jesus visiting the tax collectors and prostitutes and thieves and liars and all those other savory characters that you’d never expect to find in the temple because they would be afraid others would point out their sin instead of welcoming them into God’s presence for forgiveness – just like the Pharisees did.
And we in the Christian faith, too often do the same thing the Pharisees did. We cloister ourselves in our fine buildings and sing our songs, listen to sermons, attend our classes, and if anyone comes into our churches that don’t look or act like us, we send signals that help them understand they really aren’t as welcome as we say they are. Those visitors come in and sit in the back or maybe are even ushered to a middle seat somewhere, but they never return because we treat them like lepers. They are tax collectors, prostitutes, thieves, liars, sinners. God forbid that we let them into our Christian clubhouse.
Isn’t it time that we take up the mantle as Jesus taught us? He went to the places where the people that needed Him lived and worked and gathered for mutual comfort. He went to the sick at heart. He went to those that needed cleansing from the sickness in their spirit. He found Himself in those places filled with people who would never darken the door of the temple or the synagogue. But He gave the same message to those they He gave to the people in the synagogue.
Do you understand why? Because all of us are sinners. And in God’s eyes there is really no difference between the tax collector and the gossip, the prostitute and those who would cause dissension in the church. All have sinned and come short of the God’s glory they seek. We are not worthy to stand in His presence, and yet He calls us to follow Him. He calls us to come to Him for healing, cleansing, a right relationship with our heavenly Father.
Jesus showed us what we should do, then He did something none of us would probably do if we were God. He entrusted His message to us. He told us to go share His message throughout the world. Can you believe that? God put the message of salvation into the hands of sinners who have felt the touch of His redemptive grace. We were His enemies, but He still gave us the mission of sharing the message that will give people hope and a future.
So who do we take that message to? Do we hold it in our churches and cathedrals? Jesus didn’t. We are to take it to work with us. We’re to take it to school and the grocery. We’re to take it to our neighbors. We’re to take it to the gas station and our mechanic. We’re to take it everywhere we go and we’re to take the message of God’s grace and forgiveness to those who need it most.
Do you remember who needs it most? Everyone. We’re all sinners. Some of us are saved by His grace, if we have asked for His forgiveness. But we all need His message. So share the hope and grace He gives to someone you meet today. Don’t invite them to church to hear the message, share it with them where you find them. It will make such a difference in how they hear it from you.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.