Who Do You Want To Add To the Congregation?

Are we picky when it comes to choosing who we want to invite to our church? I think we are, I know I have been guilty of this kind of thinking.

In our church services we never really see anybody who looks unkempt or looks deprived. We all fit the middle class or higher, everybody looks like they have everything they need.

You don't see a lot of people in our services that shouldn't be there. There are no poor looking or shall I say shabby looking people in our services. Why is that? What are we afraid of?

Are we afraid we will bring the wrong person in? Afraid to bring somebody who might embarrass us in front of the congregation or be looked down on by others. I think we sometimes don't want to stir up the bees nest by bringing in a hornet. I can understand that, but it's not the right or proper thinking.

Some people had brought in a guy from the school supply drive that was interested in the church. The class had donated some money to buy his kids some school clothes and he was crying over such love. He came for awhile and then he got a job that would keep him from being at church. I hadn't seen him for a long time. He had a tattoo that ran up the side of his neck and didn't seem like he fit in. But I think he was somewhat comfortable. I didn't look at the tattoo as something gross, I like tattoo's. I won't have one ever, but I don't judge the man for having one though. But this is what I am getting at. Do we judge others because they don't look like us or live like us? Does it hinder us to talk to somebody about Christ because they are poor or don't fit into the church look? I think we all are guilty of this.

This is one thing that blew the minds of the people of Jesus' day. He didn't hang out with the high prosperous crowd like others might have thought he would. He was the King of the Jews but he was not what they expected. He came to save the lost. He ate with the tax collectors and other people that people of that generation considered hideous. If Jesus hung out with people considered to be the wrong crowd in his day, then why we do hinder what we consider to be the wrong crowd from learning about his will. It's a tough subject, because I've considered some people that I felt had the potential to be something good in the church and then I found out how they lived their lives and I fell back and said no. They would never want to be a Christian and even consider changing their life style.

The best example of this is Paul, he was a Christian basher and killer. He was considered to be highly esteemed for what he did to Christians and enjoyed what he did. But that all changed on the road to Damascus. He found the light that would glow in his soul and would go on to write many books that would change the lives of many. He became the voice of the New Testament and would live his life in prisons and would heal many and lived a humble life. He definitely didn't fit into the church crowd on Sunday morning, but God saw great things in Paul.

I often think of the many horrible criminals of today and the past. What great things do they possess or what kind of things could they have possessed for the Lord before they committed their crime to be put in prison. Many prisoners have turned their lives over to God and have tried to live a pure life. But many have done this change just to make themselves look better for the parol board. I believe their are some though who are sincere about this change and want to get the guilt taken away for the crimes.

We need to try our best to seek out all who want to live a peaceful life with Christ, and not be judgemental toward anybody. Matthew 28:19-20 "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Notice Jesus said ALL, not just the good looking and the best dressed.