Man...God sure is taking a beating these days.
Dare 2 Share - Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such despicable people--even eating with them! (Luke 15:1-2)
Man...God sure is taking a beating these days. The scandal with abuse by Catholic priests gets daily coverage, the Middle East continues to be racked with violence drawn on religious differences, terrorism often is motivated because of radical religious beliefs, and last week in Austin two ministers were arrested for allegedly whipping a young boy with a switch as discipline for not being serious about learning the Bible.
Fortunately, we have Bud Selig, so God doesn't have to take the rap for messing up major league baseball.
Three passages (Luke 15) about lost sheep, coins and sons can be summed up in this simple statement, "I don't know how you feel about God...but let me tell you how God feels about you." Jesus tells us that if we have wandered away, for whatever reason, He is the good shepherd who will leave the rest of the flock (disputing the rumor that he loves some of us more than others) and find us put us on his shoulders and lovingly bring us home... and throws a party.
You may have been neglected, mistreated or abused, but you are not invisible or downtrodden enough to hide you from the spotlight of His searching heart and He will stay up all night until He finds you, and then wake the neighbors and... throw a party. You might have spit in His face and walked out the door or stayed in the backyard while wishing you had the guts to run, and He still welcomes you back home and invites you to...are you beginning to see the pattern here...the party.
I don't know how you feel about God, but here is how He feels about you. Paul puts it this way in Romans 5, "The majority of us wouldn't consider laying down our lives for someone else, even if it's a pretty good person, but God made it very clear how he feels about us in that while we were far from being good, we were common sinners, Christ laid down his life for us."
Not even Bud Selig can mess that up.
(courtesy: Riverbend Church, Austin TX)
Questions:
1) How does make you feel knowing that God threw a party when you were saved?
2) Are you the sheep at home, or the sheep that is wandering?
3) What person in your life needs to hear about God's love?
