Dear Church,
Because of Christ’s love and sacrifice for us, we should be compelled to live unashamed for Him!
Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile.
You see, we can’t truly live unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus if we aren’t willing to live as Jesus did. To live unashamed means that we not only believe the Gospel, but that we are willing to live it out.
When you and I are unashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we will begin to love people the way Jesus loved people. Do we love as Jesus did? Do we realize that the people Jesus called to follow him were sinners and outcasts? They weren’t the upstanding. They weren’t the standouts. They were the commoners, the low-life’s and the people who everyone else had overlooked.
When Jesus was developing his inner circle, He purposely chose some controversial people. He purposely befriended some known sinners to bring into His band of disciples. Take the calling of Matthew, for example. Matthew was a tax collector. He was considered a traitor by the Jewish people. He worked for Rome and lined his personal pockets at the same time by charging more taxes than people actually owed. Tax collectors weren’t welcomed folk in the synagogues. No upstanding Jew would be seen associating with one of them. And Jesus walked right up to him and said, “Matthew, come follow me.” And this guy, someone other Rabbis avoided, closed up shop and followed Jesus.
When Jesus reached out to call people, He never saw what they were, but He saw what they could become. And that very night, Matthew 9 tells us that Matthew had a big dinner party and invited all of his low-life friends so they could go from low-life and no-life to abundant life in Christ. Jesus saw Matthew’s need for salvation and He also saw Matthew’s potential to reach others for the Kingdom!
We may SEE the sinner and hand them a bottle of water or offer them a free haircut or give them clothes which is wonderful and needed. But do we, like Jesus, invite them into our inner circle?
To whom can we draw close this week? How can we extend ourselves to those who are not only separated from Christ, but to those who have been disenfranchised from society as well? As you finish reading this, pray and ask God who you can touch in His name!
