Before I began reading the section on the woman and the lost coin, I was struck by the very first verse: “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.” The verse practically leaped off the page when I saw it!
If believers are truly living like Jesus, shouldn’t we be experiencing the same attraction from “sinners?” Wouldn’t they long to hear us and be drawn to the life and words of Christ?
Instead, I hear believers demean those outside “the church” and say things like, “My pastor was really giving it to those homosexuals in his sermon this week!” That gives me such pause. Is THAT our calling? To make people feel shame, humiliation, and degradation? Are we to speak of them with such rancor?
I just don’t get it. Why has this unloving, nasty, judgmental way of relating taking root in so many Christian spaces?
This is the first time I’ve read the parable of the lost sheep in context of Eze 34. Thank you for this. It really provides a richer and deeper understanding to me of the long suffering of The Lord toward all of mankind and of his expectation of how we live toward one another.
Reading the Parable of the Lost Son (should be lost sons, plural since we know the elder son was just as lost in his judgmental ways like the Pharisees), in light of today’s devotional has new meaning for me. All three parables are not about being lost — no! — they are about being found!! Found by a God who would give up His dignity to run to embrace and restore His child! That’s truly sobering
Before I began reading the section on the woman and the lost coin, I was struck by the very first verse: “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.” The verse practically leaped off the page when I saw it!
If believers are truly living like Jesus, shouldn’t we be experiencing the same attraction from “sinners?” Wouldn’t they long to hear us and be drawn to the life and words of Christ?
Instead, I hear believers demean those outside “the church” and say things like, “My pastor was really giving it to those homosexuals in his sermon this week!” That gives me such pause. Is THAT our calling? To make people feel shame, humiliation, and degradation? Are we to speak of them with such rancor?
I just don’t get it. Why has this unloving, nasty, judgmental way of relating taking root in so many Christian spaces?
This is the first time I’ve read the parable of the lost sheep in context of Eze 34. Thank you for this. It really provides a richer and deeper understanding to me of the long suffering of The Lord toward all of mankind and of his expectation of how we live toward one another.
Reading the Parable of the Lost Son (should be lost sons, plural since we know the elder son was just as lost in his judgmental ways like the Pharisees), in light of today’s devotional has new meaning for me. All three parables are not about being lost — no! — they are about being found!! Found by a God who would give up His dignity to run to embrace and restore His child! That’s truly sobering