Easter Celebrations are over, and it’s now back to work, school, and life for many of us. Churches across the world celebrated the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who was, in His life, considered an outcast, by most factions of society – except for His followers, and even those few scattered when the going got tough.  Humanity was on the ‘outside’ looking in at God’s plan of salvation unfolding right before their eyes.

 

In Luke 5:31-32, Jesus said, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.” (MSG)

 

Outsiders: I think we all have experienced the feeling of being on the outside looking in, even within the body of Christ,  just as the ‘chosen’ people of Jesus’ day were ‘outsiders’. Remember Peter? Jesus, after His Resurrection, told the women to go tell His disciples and Peter! Why? Because Peter definitely felt like an outsider after he denied Jesus three times. The Apostle Paul? Persecuted Christ’s followers ‘til the Lord literally blindsided him. Both Peter and Paul, and so many others were on the outside but heard the message of Christ and became ‘insiders’, accepting the invitation for a changed life – inside and out. Jesus extends that same invitation to all of us today.

 

“Jesus heard about it and spoke up, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? I’m here inviting outsiders, not insiders—an invitation to a changed life, changed inside and out.”

See it at YouVersion.com: http://bible.us/97/luk.5.31.msg

 

On The Journey … Valerie

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• Tagged: Acceptance, Christ, decisions, forgiveness, grace, inadequacy, left-out, outsiders, redemption