{"id":27712,"date":"2020-03-02T03:30:38","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T11:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/?p=27712"},"modified":"2020-02-27T16:00:17","modified_gmt":"2020-02-28T00:00:17","slug":"march-2-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lccredding.org\/church\/2020\/03\/02\/march-2-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"March 2, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cWhat man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?\u201d\u00a0<\/em>Luke 15:4<\/p>\n

The One<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Recently, I\u2019ve felt the Lord drawing me toward an older lady within our circle of acquaintances. Let\u2019s just say, our relationship over the years has been more like a couple of alley cats sizing each other up for a tussle. No, I\u2019m not proud of that, but I had my share of excuses not to get mixed up with her. And they were good ones.<\/p>\n

\u201cLord, she makes me uncomfortable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLord, it\u2019s all about her<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLord, we have nothing\u00a0<\/em>in common.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLord, don\u2019t You see\u00a0<\/em>how she lives her life?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLord, this is really more than I can take.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the Lord\u2019s reply? \u201cUh huh, exactly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, I know the warnings about committing too much of our time to some folks who, well, quite honestly, can pull us back into un-Christian-like behaviors. There\u2019s also the sound advice to establish boundaries, not \u201cenabling\u201d poor choices. But somehow, this was different. No, the Lord was up to something, and it was up to me to endure\u00a0<\/em>some stuff.<\/p>\n

I really felt in my heart that this whole setup was about the Lord\u2019s\u00a0<\/em>compassion, not so much mine. I was clearly lacking in that department. But the Lord reminded me of His love for the lost, the broken, the messed up minds and bodies, how He goes after those lost sheep, the one<\/em>. He puts Himself out there. He even leaves the ninety-nine in search of them<\/em>. What? This is just too much for me to grasp.<\/p>\n

But there I was, knee deep in a relationship I hadn\u2019t really chosen, but Jesus had. I began to see why\u00a0<\/em>this person carried so much pain, the terrible past hurts and trauma. And from that point on, I began to let loose of my judgments and see Jesus reaching out through\u00a0<\/em>me. I began to truly feel this \u201clost\u201d one\u2019s grievous pain.<\/p>\n

Of course, there\u2019s always a fly in the ointment, like my mama used to say. Luke 15:2 records this self-righteous observation about Jesus:\u00a0\u201cAnd the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, \u2018This Man receives sinners and eats with them.\u2019\u201d\u00a0<\/em>We can all expect some kind of blowback when we reach into the darkness.<\/p>\n

Oh, Jesus, please help us see the world through Your eyes. Each soul is important to You, valuable and worthy of Your undivided attention. Help us look deeper than the obvious, and offer a lifeline straight to Your heart. Deliver us from self-righteous religious piety, and show us Your ways. Amen.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>

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