We Are Called To Love And Show kindness To ALL People

Matthew 9:11-13 - The proud religious law-keepers saw this. They said to the followers of Jesus, “Why does your Teacher eat with men who gather taxes and with sinners?”  Jesus heard them and said, “People who are well do not need a doctor.  But go and understand these words, ‘I want loving-kindness and not a gift to be given.’ For I have not come to call good people. I have come to call those who are sinners.”

 

Jesus spent much of his time healing those that came in desperate need of his touch.  He loved them all and commended them for their faith. He stopped on the way to his hometown to call a new disciple one day. He sat and ate at this tax collector’s home with all the sinners that gathered to share the meal with them. He corrected the religious leaders that took issue with his choice of Matthew….and all the corrupt people that reclined at the table with them….but Jesus let them know real quick that His greatest mission was to save the sinner…he wanted all of us to show loving kindness to all people…especially the ones that do not know Him at all.

 

Jesus spoke harshly to the Jewish religious leaders that constantly tried to question His methods and power. They did not see Him as the Messiah…but a threat to the lives they had built from following rules so strictly all their lives. They were so blinded by the need to follow a rule that they forgot the real reason for the rule in the first place.  Jesus was all about saving people…not rewarding them for the goodness they bragged about to others.

 

It is a huge reminder to me that God’s word requires me to have a loving merciful heart.  There are plenty of people out there that do not know Christ at all. Some know of Him….but have rejected Him for some reason.  If my life is to be modeled after Jesus….then I cannot be afraid to go to the ones who need Him most. He will shine His light through me and let them see the one hope that can turn their lives of sin around for the good.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that I am called to be a worker for the harvest that you are trying to bring into heaven with you. It is not enough for me to feel my place there is secure…but you have called me to share my testimony with others so that they may have a spot there as well. Forgive me for the times that I have shied away from talking to someone because of their past.  Help me to be a worker who is bold and trusts that you will give me all the light I need to show them the hope they can have in you if they believe.  Amen.