Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
Romans 15:7
Have you ever been rejected for something out of your control? Have you been judged and/or shunned for something a family member or friend did? Maybe you were judged for being poor, wearing the "wrong" clothes, being uncoordinated, looking different, or some other random factor. That's not fair and that's not the love and acceptance we believers are supposed to give to the world.
You want to be loved and accepted by God and by others? Then show acceptance to others. If you do not approve of someone's choices, you will never influence them to know the love of Jesus by judging and rejecting them.
In our church's homeless ministry, we have a saying: "love them 'til they ask you why." That means to love the unlovables, not by beating them over the head with scriptures, but just by showing them grace and acceptance. Another saying I've heard is this, "preach the gospel; if necessary, use words."
What if Jesus had shunned the homeless, prostitutes, thieves, and other sinners?
When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
Mark 2:17
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Dear Readers,
For the month of April, I've signed up for two blogging challenges:
The A to Z challenge calls for a letter-inspired post each day, except Sundays through the month of April; and the Ultimate Blog Challenge calls for a daily blog post. I look forward to meeting these challenges and having some fun this month.
