Melissa's comment:
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This post has been making my brain hurt for the past two weeks, and I'm a bit disappointed that nobody chimed in to the discussion....
The fact that (some) sinners were drawn to Jesus makes perfect sense to me. Picture yourself living in a land where almost everybody hated/condemned people for being an adulterer/tax collector/something else socially unacceptable and then Jesus comes along and isn't a jerk like everyone else... it seems kinda obvious to me that you would want to be around him. Add in the excitement of him telling the leaders of the day that they were buttheads and not nearly as smart as they thought they were. That must've been a pretty sweet sight for the outcasts.
This could be a really interesting discussion if more people actually commented....
And here is my "response" stemming from her comment...
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I had never quite thought about it how you put it, about how everyone is rejecting these people, and there is one person who doesn't! I began to picture that...and OF COURSE I would be drawn to that one person, that one person who sees me as someone else, someone who I know I'm not. Somehow he sees something else in me, something that no one else sees. I would want to do anything to live up to that person's expectation of me, to not let Him down, to not disappoint Him anymore than I already have or could do, to try to prove to Him and myself that I can do it. I'm not who I appear to be...I can be better, I promise. Thank you for believing in me, I don't understand how you can.
Yeah, I can picture EXACTLY how they were drawn to Jesus.
I guess my question is...HOW do I do that for other people? I guess really, it's simple, LOVE them, care for them, see in them what they can be, not who they are now (have a vision for them). Spend time with them, share my life with them, tell them the truth, share Christ with them. I know those things...but do I do them? Can I do better? Do I just not see where I do these in my life?
That list up there is still generalities and not specifics applied to specific people. Why can't the Bible just say, Chris go and do this or be this for this person? That's where the Spirit comes in, if I am able and do listen to him, that is where the specifics will come.
I guess I've answered some of my questions (through rapid jumping), but for some reason that doesn't feel good enough. I know many of the answers. What comes after that? Putting the answers into action....(sigh)...
The fact that (some) sinners were drawn to Jesus makes perfect sense to me. Picture yourself living in a land where almost everybody hated/condemned people for being an adulterer/tax collector/something else socially unacceptable and then Jesus comes along and isn't a jerk like everyone else... it seems kinda obvious to me that you would want to be around him. Add in the excitement of him telling the leaders of the day that they were buttheads and not nearly as smart as they thought they were. That must've been a pretty sweet sight for the outcasts.
This could be a really interesting discussion if more people actually commented....
And here is my "response" stemming from her comment...
------------------------
I had never quite thought about it how you put it, about how everyone is rejecting these people, and there is one person who doesn't! I began to picture that...and OF COURSE I would be drawn to that one person, that one person who sees me as someone else, someone who I know I'm not. Somehow he sees something else in me, something that no one else sees. I would want to do anything to live up to that person's expectation of me, to not let Him down, to not disappoint Him anymore than I already have or could do, to try to prove to Him and myself that I can do it. I'm not who I appear to be...I can be better, I promise. Thank you for believing in me, I don't understand how you can.
Yeah, I can picture EXACTLY how they were drawn to Jesus.
I guess my question is...HOW do I do that for other people? I guess really, it's simple, LOVE them, care for them, see in them what they can be, not who they are now (have a vision for them). Spend time with them, share my life with them, tell them the truth, share Christ with them. I know those things...but do I do them? Can I do better? Do I just not see where I do these in my life?
That list up there is still generalities and not specifics applied to specific people. Why can't the Bible just say, Chris go and do this or be this for this person? That's where the Spirit comes in, if I am able and do listen to him, that is where the specifics will come.
I guess I've answered some of my questions (through rapid jumping), but for some reason that doesn't feel good enough. I know many of the answers. What comes after that? Putting the answers into action....(sigh)...
2 comments:
You can have a bible that tells you what to do: http://personalpromisebible.com/?text=Chris
:D
Ok, so first off, that bible Blake linked to is just goofy. Can you imagine trying to study Discovering Jesus with someone out of that?
As for Chris' and Melissa's comments--In one sense I think Jeses was sort of localized in his approach. Not to say He didn't and doesn't love all sinners, but when He was on earth as a man He stayed in a pretty small geographic area and spent his time among only one ethnic group. I wonder how much we struggle with this thought of going afar and loving screwed up people when we are already living among and loving screwed up people. One thing I've realized doing campus ministry is that you'd be shocked if we went person to person at one of our meetings and people really confessed what they are dealing with and things they have done. I assure you Chris, you already love sinners and I think a number of people have found in this community the first safe place to share their sin with a couple of trusted brothers and sisters.
Now with that said, I think Jesus' words in Matthew 5: "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?" So to look from the opposite perspective, I think Chris is right that Jesus went out to places and people that were uncomfortable. He constantly stretched himself. And the company He kept made others feel uncomfortable. :-)
I don't know exactly how to achieve all this. I guess step one is realizing we can't achieve ALL of it. We need to make sure we are always loving some people that are hard to love. Not just for them, but for us. It's because I'm not very much like God yet that I find it hard to love some people. I don't think God finds it hard to love anyone. I think He wants me to love those people to change me and open my eyes to what is truly valuable in this world.
We still find it easier to love ipods and sports and computers and books and all sorts of stuff than we find it is to love people, especially "bad" ones. That's pretty screwed up and doesn't jive with the picture of God's new kingdom that Jesus gave us. The good news is that the kingdom will be full of "bad" people, "beautifully dressed for her husband" (Revelation 20:2). He says, "I am making everything new!". No wonder Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe the good news!" (Mk 1)
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