What types of people do you hang out with? Do you complain about the bad types of people? How do you define a bad type? Is it anyone different than you? Is it only those who commit crimes? Does it include people who are offensive? What is your definition?
We typically like to hang out with people who are like us. They have the same likes. They have the same values. They enjoy the same things. For many, it may include people who look like them. We all choose who we hang out with by some type of criteria.
The religious leaders scoffed at Jesus for hanging out with who they thought of as the wrong king of people. Some were tax collectors, working for their oppressors. Some were called sinners, people who disobeyed God’s law or didn’t attend worship services. We like to point out the incorrect attitudes of those religious leaders. But what do we do beyond that?
Just as Jesus went to those who were on the margins or cast out of society, we must go to them. We like to complain about how our world has gone crazy, that things are out of whack. The only way to change it is to bring more people to Jesus. It is a slow process. It will take years for a turnaround to happen. But we must make the effort if we want the world to be better for our children and grandchildren.
I pray we all take our mission seriously. I pray we seek to bring people of all types to Jesus. I pray each one of us will go to those on the margins or who have been cast out of our society. Take your mission seriously. Bring people to Jesus. Go to the outcast and those on the margins. Be like Jesus.
Matthew 9:12-13 But when he heard this, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous but sinners.”
Marty Pressey 