Stop being a weirdo! Seriously!

 Passing along, Jesus saw a man at his work collecting taxes. His name was Matthew. Jesus said, "Come along with me." Matthew stood up and followed him.Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew's house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them.When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus' followers. "What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riff-raff?"
Jesus, overhearing, shot back, "Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick?


On Animal Planet the other day, there was a guy who was bitten by an extremely venomous snake somewhere in the bush in Africa. The snake bit him in the ankle and the fast-acting venom hit his bloodstream very quickly. His friends rushed him to the nearest place where he could get a ride to the hospital. It took them several hours to get him treatment. Finally, after a long series of events, the hospital staff identified the type of venom and gave him anti-venom to counteract the deadly poison.
This man's friends knew he was dying, and they did everything possible to get help for his critical condition. 
In the above passage you see that Jesus did the same thing, except that he was responding to those in critical condition, spiritually. Jesus cultivated relationships with people who were spiritually dying and in need of serious help. His radical lifestyle was marked by love, sacrifice, and reaching out to people who needed salvation. 


Did you get that? Here it is again: Jesus cultivated relationships with people who were spiritually dying and in need of serious help. His radical lifestyle was marked by love, sacrifice, and reaching out to people who needed salvation!

I know, at least in my life, that church and Christianity has shifted to the importance of building relationships with unbelievers. Sure, you can witness or minister to anyone anywhere, and we still do, but really when you spend time getting to know someone it lets them know you really care. After all, No one cares how much you know, they just wanna know you care! The unsaved world needs to see believers who aren't so wrapped up in "the religion of me", but rather care enough about them to reach out! People need to see The Love of God in a practical way. That's why we are seeing more and more local churches and ministries sharing food, clothing, medical help etc... A wise children's pastor once told me "Tab, you have no right to speak into those kids lives if you haven't spent time building a relationship with them!" And he's right. We as believers can lead a hurting person to Jesus much easier if we spend time loving them in a tangible way. 

The days of the "Jesus Freak, sandwich sign carrying Christian" are over! Stop being a weirdo! It's time to get to work building meaningful relationships with people just like Jesus did! It's ok to leave your Bible at home when you go to the store, take off your Christian fish pin, tear off your religious mask! There are folks in your world who need you - go after them with a practical demonstration of The Love of God!!!!

Today, spend some time thinking about the people in your world (e.g. school, work, neighborhood) that God may be prompting you to reach out to. Many people have never experienced the love of God or the hope that he gives.