First of all, I'll define a sinner. A sinner is someone who sins. The simple truth is this - everyone sins. Every single person in this world has either lied, stolen, rebelled, hated, disobeyed, been selfish and hurt others at some stage. Even more than that, we are all born in sin. It's in our very nature from birth. For this very reason you don't need to teach a two year old how to have a bad attitude and throw a tantrum. It's in our blood. So that levels the playing field to start with hey. We are all sinners. Secondarily, sin is sin whether its big or small. I'll put it this way... You're on your way to a wedding in your best gear. You're standing outside the church with a friend and the horse drawn cart pulls up with the brides family inside. Unfortunately the horse ate a little too much for breakfast and decided now is a good time to relieve itself.
You do your best to maintain composure despite the rancid smell and step back to get some fresh air. The bride arrives next in a large black limousine and pulls up to the curb. As the driver reverses to park he runs over the horses 'deposit' and moist particles are sent airborne in your direction. You look down and your nicely pressed suit is now completely peppered and decorated with a substance not generally fit for wedding ceremonies or public appearances. Your friend also suffers the same fate only to a much lesser extent with much smaller spots sprayed over a nice white shirt. Why such a vivid example? Because now both people have 'less than desirable' additions to their clean clothes. Clearly both people would need these dirty clothes washed and to get changed into new clothes.Sadly though, it's often the ones with the big obvious stains that go to 'The Cleaner'. You would think it absurd for the friend that had smaller spots to just ignore it and put a suit jacket on to cover the spots and continue on with the day pretending nothing ever happened.
The truth is no matter how much you perfume or try to cover it up, you know what you've got on you. Sin is exactly the same. We all do it, We all need forgiveness. The great news is 1 John 1:9 tells us that Jesus is always faithful to forgive us when we confess our sin, no matter how big or small. A Christian can be defined as a 'sinner saved by grace'. Does this mean Christians are clean and perfect all the time? Certainly not. A Christian is simply someone who knows the owner of the laundromat personally. We all need Jesus. We all need forgiveness. This is why Jesus said "judge not or you will be judged". We just aren't cut out to judge, we are all flawed just like everyone else and need Jesus every moment of every day.
Jesus was known as the 'friend of sinners' and we are called to be Christ-like so it makes perfect sense that we should do the same. Religion is exclusive, but God's love is inclusive. We don't stay clean in God's eyes by excluding ourselves from sinners, we stay clean by choosing not to sin ourselves and by asking for forgiveness we we fall. So today, choose to be respectful, kind, friendly and inviting to sinners just like Jesus was - because in truth, we are all just sinners who need a Saviour. Our job is to simply present Jesus as our Saviour and let the Spirit of God do His word in their hearts
You do your best to maintain composure despite the rancid smell and step back to get some fresh air. The bride arrives next in a large black limousine and pulls up to the curb. As the driver reverses to park he runs over the horses 'deposit' and moist particles are sent airborne in your direction. You look down and your nicely pressed suit is now completely peppered and decorated with a substance not generally fit for wedding ceremonies or public appearances. Your friend also suffers the same fate only to a much lesser extent with much smaller spots sprayed over a nice white shirt. Why such a vivid example? Because now both people have 'less than desirable' additions to their clean clothes. Clearly both people would need these dirty clothes washed and to get changed into new clothes.Sadly though, it's often the ones with the big obvious stains that go to 'The Cleaner'. You would think it absurd for the friend that had smaller spots to just ignore it and put a suit jacket on to cover the spots and continue on with the day pretending nothing ever happened.
The truth is no matter how much you perfume or try to cover it up, you know what you've got on you. Sin is exactly the same. We all do it, We all need forgiveness. The great news is 1 John 1:9 tells us that Jesus is always faithful to forgive us when we confess our sin, no matter how big or small. A Christian can be defined as a 'sinner saved by grace'. Does this mean Christians are clean and perfect all the time? Certainly not. A Christian is simply someone who knows the owner of the laundromat personally. We all need Jesus. We all need forgiveness. This is why Jesus said "judge not or you will be judged". We just aren't cut out to judge, we are all flawed just like everyone else and need Jesus every moment of every day.
Jesus was known as the 'friend of sinners' and we are called to be Christ-like so it makes perfect sense that we should do the same. Religion is exclusive, but God's love is inclusive. We don't stay clean in God's eyes by excluding ourselves from sinners, we stay clean by choosing not to sin ourselves and by asking for forgiveness we we fall. So today, choose to be respectful, kind, friendly and inviting to sinners just like Jesus was - because in truth, we are all just sinners who need a Saviour. Our job is to simply present Jesus as our Saviour and let the Spirit of God do His word in their hearts
[ Luke 5:32 - Jesus said "I didn't come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance" ] God loves you!
