Did you see the last line in this story? The "good people"....religion is in the hunt for the "good people", right? We treat everybody else like a mission project and then we wonder why everybody in our church looks alike. We may even pray for the "other ones".....but do we love? Even more, do we deliberately go out looking for the lost ones? If Jesus was pastoring a church here on Hilton Head and left the church owners to find the lost ones, there is a better than average chance He would get fired. Most people would just answer no to leaving the church owners to seek the ones.
Here's the thing....Jesus isn't most people....He's setting the table, preparing the meal, inviting the guests, and naming the game. Why is it we're too busy trying to make His body little more than a puppet on a string? Problem: Jesus will never be anyone's puppet and if churches think they can manage Jesus, the puppet they are holding on a string is the body opposite of Jesus.
He seeks the lost ones. He loves the lost ones. He brings the lost ones home. He has deep joy for them. They are a mess. He knows it. He loves them.
Jesus shed blood for the ones. Most of us in church are afraid of them. Jesus' body is a body on the move...in the hunt....on the loose.....always relentless about loving the lost ones.
You have to be a lost one to know a lost one. Jesus did that. He came to live with and for the lost ones. He took on the pain and suffering of the lost ones. He walked out of death for the lost ones. Do you think the heart in His body for the lost ones has changed? Are you still sitting on your hands...or seeking?
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