PEOPLE OF THIS KIND
Today's reading: Mark 1-2
"That night Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to be his dinner guests, along with his fellow tax collectors and many other notorious sinners. (There were many people of this kind among the crowds that followed Jesus.)" Mark 2:15 NLT
This kind--
You know the kind.
The folks with backgrounds. Those with skeletons in their closets. The ones who have left trails of bodies, or at least hearts, littered behind them.
The kind that are messy. Rough. Inappropriate at times. Uninformed. Unlearned. Uncouth.
If you've been in the church scene long enough, you've seen this kind come and go, and hopefully come and stay, in your congregation.
But the thing is...
The truth of the matter is...
The thing most of us believers have forgotten...
We used to be this kind.
Before we came to know the Lord as Savior and Friend, we were them.
Maybe, like me, you need that reminder.
Might it be that you need to remember who you once were, so you can extend love, grace, mercy and kindness to the ones new on the church scene.
This kind, the kind Mark refers to as following Jesus? Well, we either ARE or we WERE.
