Come One, Come ALL!

“Come unto me all....”  Those were Jesus’ words.  He was accused on numerous times of not only being with sinners, but actually “eating” with them.  Sharing a meal has always been an important part of culture.  We go out to dinner or we “do lunch”.  Eating is still an important part of our lives.  Who we choose to share meals with will say a lot about us, and what’s important to our lives.

We ask those out to dinner that we want to get to know better, we “do lunch” with old friends, we have a working lunch with colleagues or business associates.  Who would Jesus eat with??  Would those be the people he would have around His table?  I think we should all take a deep hard look at who we decide to have around us, and I personally think Jesus should be our guide.

Thanksgiving is here and we come together as families and Christians to celebrate what God has done for us.  We thank God for our blessings.  We always surround ourselves with friends, family and those important to our lives, and that’s good.  But who else should we have around our table?  Who would Jesus have around His thanksgiving table??

Let’s take a look, a glimpse, into who Jesus might have at His table by seeing who were the regulars at the dinners and meals Jesus shared… 

Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. ¹¹ And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
¹² When Jesus heard that, He said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. ¹³ But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (MT 9:1-13)

And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” ⁶ So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. ⁷ But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” (LK 19:5-7)
You see Jesus was not afraid to get His hands dirty… to minister to those a little different, maybe even a little dirty.  Listen to Jesus as he quotes Isaiah in Luke 4, “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me
To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty those who are oppressed; ¹⁹ To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”  ²⁰ Then He closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on Him. ²¹ And He began to say to them, “Today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.” ²²   Jesus came for the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives, and the oppressed.  You see we all fit into that category at one point in our lives; maybe some of us are there now.  The point is Jesus cares and is waiting for us to sit at the table of Salvation. 

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Jesus left out no one.  Come one, come all!  Find rest at the table of Jesus.

God Bless and Happy Thanksgiving!

"Rose Colored Glasses"

“Rose colored glasses,” or the eyes of Jesus, you decide?  I had someone mention a few days ago that I might just be looking at the world, and more specifically, the body of Christ through what he called “rose colored glasses.”  First off that phrase has always thrown me off a little bit, because I still see all the marvelous colors God gave us to enjoy and even the shades of grey and black that ooze from those whose spirit lacks that of Christ.  I am not a dog, I see in full spectrum color, but there is a difference in him and me, I suppose, and that is the vision of and mindset of Christ.

I don’t see the world in the same way most do, I have been transformed.  I now see things through the eyes of Christ.  Paul so clearly tells the brothers and sisters in Rome how they should live.  “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. ² And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”  It seems to me that when we are living our lives with the mercies of God in the forefront of our being that we would see things a little different.  I mean Paul said to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind”.  If anything it appears to me that would include looking at things in a different way.  That word “transformed” in the Greek is “metamorphoo”.  It is where we get the English word metamorphosis thus meaning a transfiguration.  It is the same word used during Jesus’ transfiguration.  It is a total change, including how we look at the world.  Paul explains a little more in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

Once again in Philippians 2:5-8 Paul explains how we are to behave.  “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, ⁷ but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. ⁸ And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”  “Have this mind in you which was also in Christ.”  Rose colored glasses, no.  Christ-like view of the world, yes.  I seek to live my life in a way to see the needs of others and to find the best, not fault in my brothers and sisters in Christ.  I pray the one who is looking at the world through his jaded glasses will take them off, be transformed and see the wonders that God has given us in the body of Christ, His Church, not only in this life, but the glories in the life to come.

God Bless!