Jesus is for Sinners

Does anyone remember the teachings of the Christ? Does anyone remember the character of the people he associated with? Does anyone remember the 12 he chose to have follow him and disciple? Good, I'll come back to that later, first I want to introduce myself to you.

Hello! My name is John; I am 40, and have the most wonderful wife in the world and two lovely children. I am a family man in every sense of the word. I haven't always been who I am now, but I suspect, you aren't the same person you were 5, 10 or 20 years ago. I have a decent job, pay taxes, go to church and volunteer with the children's ministry every week. I come from a background less savory than this! I am a former (adult) club disc jockey and MC. I did stand up comedy. Tried a bunch of illegal and controlled substances over the years (I even inhaled, just a time or two.) My first marriage failed and I have been homeless, family-less and suicidal. I haven't spoke to my father in over 15 years and just recently patched things up with Mom. I wasn't the black sheep; I was the wolf in sheep's clothing.

Thanks are to God that I am not that person anymore. I have returned to the church of my childhood and am enjoying my spiritual path. I cannot wait to see where God leads me next. To think that I can be used to minister to the next generation... well, it blows my mind. I gladly sow, so that they might know and learn how not to live. I am the breaker of generational curses. My children's children's children will know and reap the benefits of the legacy I am leaving.

Now, with the introduction out of the way, let me relate something that happened to me last night. Out of the blue, I received a message from an anonymous gentleman at MySpace, telling me that as a Christian I should not have certain friends in my "friends" list. You see, this self righteous... person... thought it was a great idea to go through peoples pages, judge those he saw fit to judge and then condemn those that disturbed his sense of propriety to the fiery pits of hell. The people he told me not to associate with had on bikinis. Can you believe it? Oh, the humanity. Somehow, he knows that the friends I have in my list are pornographic producers, and told me about them. He told me that as a Christian, I had an obligation to remove these people from my MySpace page. I looked over my friends lists and decided that, no; I am not removing these people.

What I have decided is to ignore holier than thou halo polishers like the one that was so gracious to share his opinion of me, my friends, and our eternal soul. (How did he get the inside track? And if he does have that kind of "homie" relationship with "The Original G" then why isn't he using it to heal the sick, make the blind see...etc.) What I am going to do from now on, whenever I get the chance, is to minister to the bikini clad miscreants that call themselves my friend. I will minister to them by not only sharing the message, but by living right, setting the example, if you will. I will NOT judge them, for my fear is that I will alienate them like Mr. Better-Than-You did me last night.

Now, back to the Christ. Jesus associated with the sinners, not the saved. Would he be judged like I was by Mr. Good Intentions? Probably. Personally, I don't care how you minister, the point is that you are; however, don't judge me and mine because our approach is different.