Chasing them away

 Chasing them away

In the book of Mark we read,

"While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and "sinners" were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him.  

When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the "sinners" and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: "Why does he eat with tax collectors and ‘sinners'?" 

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Mark 2:15-17

In the Talmud we read,

“An aged man, whom Abraham hospitality invited to his tent, refused to join him in prayer to the one spiritual God.  Learning that he was a fire-worshipper.   Abraham drove him from his door.  That night God appeared to Abraham in a vision and said: ‘I have borne with that ignorant man for seventy years: could you not have patiently suffered him one night?” The Talmud.

Now while the Talmud is not a Christian book the illustration given here of Abraham chasing away a non-believer, illustrates what a lot of Christians do. They drive people from Christ.

Jesus as recorded in Matthew 28:18-20, makes it clear that we as His followers are to make disciples. Teaching them what He has taught us.

The only way we can do this is if we sit with sinners and don’t judge them. It’s that simple.

Our job is to present the gospel message of salvation through Christ Jesus. To tell unbelievers the same thing the apostle Paul wrote about,

"You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die.  

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:6-8.

Paul also writing,

"That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  

For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.”  Romans 10: 9,10.

When you interact with those around you are you telling them this message or are your words and deeds chasing them away?

Please think about it.