October 29-He Celebrates Us! 

Good Monday morning and happy birthday Lane! I hope your weekend was good and you are ready to begin a great week! Yesterday, I heard the most common criticism Jesus received while on earth was the people he hung out with. I hadn’t thought about it before but that’s why he was always getting scorned. The religious people thought he should not be eating and spending so much time with those folks who were not like them. And you know, Jesus never defended himself against those charges, but he did tell stories. 


“Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them! So Jesus told them this story: “If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!”

‭‭Luke‬ ‭15:1-7‬ ‭NLT‬‬


Aren’t you glad that Jesus wanted to hang with the sinners? People like us before we came to know Christ and even afterwards, when we aren’t perfect. Sometimes like the sheep, we have trouble with direction and Jesus has to chase us down, fight to find us. And the most wonderful thing about the grace and love of Christ is He really doesn’t even care how we get in our messes as long as we own it and turn to Him. He rejoices! He celebrates! He isn’t interested in penitence or payback, He just wants us back. And He joyfully carries us home. 


Oh Lord Jesus, how can we ever thank you for loving us so much that all you want is us? You are such a good God and we are so blessed to be called your people. We celebrate with you when a sinner comes to know you. Help us to alway be ready with kindness and understanding for those who still need to know you. We praise you for you grace and your mercy. Blessed be the Lamb, our Savior and King. Amen and amen. 


Love you dear one,

Pam

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