"This Man Is Friendly With Sinners"

How often we say "I am hopeless, I am so powerless and I can’t reach God’s standards". Going back to God for the seemingly hopeless causes you are struggling with. Well, at least you do go to God to ask forgiveness over and over but how do you think God approaches those who willingly commit sins and have actually embraced sin as their lifestyle?

In spite of religious people’s opinion, Jesus Christ saw the importance, the immense value He had put inside a human being when He created us. Let’s see His approach in the following excerpt:

"Tax collectors and sinners were all crowding around to listen to Jesus. So the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law of Moses started grumbling, "This man is friendly with sinners. He even eats with them." Then Jesus told them this story:

If any of you has a hundred sheep, and one of them gets lost, what will you do? Won't you leave the ninety-nine in the field and go look for the lost sheep until you find it? And when you find it, you will be so glad that you will put it on your shoulder and carry it home. Then you will call in your friends and neighbors and say, "Let's celebrate! I've found my lost sheep."

Jesus said, "In the same way there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over ninety-nine good people who don't need to."

Jesus told the people another story: What will a woman do if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them? Won't she light a lamp, sweep the floor, and look carefully until she finds it? Then she will call in her friends and neighbors and say, "Let's celebrate! I've found the coin I lost."
Jesus said, "In the same way God's angels are happy when even one person turns to Him." Luke 15: 1-10

The difference is mainly seen on how much Jesus cared while religious people despised those living in the web of sin. He paid the price for all the sins already and when our eyes open and we see the enormous difference between a set of rules and doctrines (which make religion) and a Person, a Good God, a God that approaches to lift you up and free you from your misery (not to constantly condemn you), it is then when you start serving God not for fear of what He might do if you don’t obey but out of love of how He has already shown His love to you.

Have you seen religious people with a rejecting attitude towards the people who have committed a certain sin? Sometimes we ourselves do the same without even realizing it. However, God tells us that the one who thinks he stands should be careful not to fall.
Learning to tell the truth in a redeeming way is crucial. First of all we are all sinners and if you are not in such a mess as others are it doesn’t mean that it can never happen to you. Therefore getting rid of a judgmental attitude yet approaching a person in such a way that they may receive the truth without being "extra charged" by you, will give them the chance to understand that there is still hope for them. Not only hope but a real freedom in Christ!

God in specialized in transforming lives and from prostitutes and thieves He can and will (if asked) cast all evil out and renew those persons with His Holy Spirit to a life of freedom, to a life where they can serve Jesus out of love and not because they fear hell.

Christian Religions of all kinds have brought their doctrines and customs that make God’s word of no effect today just as they did when Jesus Christ was walking among us on earth. It is of tremendous significance that you don’t base your opinions on people’s doctrines and sets of rules. God gave YOU the ability to read, gave YOU understanding and gave YOU the Bible to check all things you are taught in your religious denomination. You can see yourself if your church looks like the church in the Bible; you can see for yourself if your life looks like the life of a disciple of Christ in the New Testament. If it doesn’t, don’t stop your search until you find out why it is so, and when you found why, go back to the Bible and trust the God of the Bible who is Infinite, Righteous and Loving.