Our Ways Are Not His

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

 neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

 As the heavens are higher than the earth,

 so are my ways higher than your ways

 and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8-9).

How different are the teachings of Jesus. Over and over again my Jesus reaches out to sinners. People who we judge and condemn for their transgressions, Jesus is reaching out to, drawing them to him. We must have forgotten that "he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy" (Titus 3:5).

 Sometimes our ways seem right, "there is a way that seems right to a man..." There is a saying that is much better put as a question; is the church a hotel for saints or a hospital for sinners? Jesus said, "those who are well have no need of a physician but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mark 2:12). Not once did Jesus condemn a sinner, but he did the religous leaders of the day, the Pharisees,"You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?"

Today it seems external transgressions have become the "litmus test" for separating the sheep from the goats. Jesus however separated the sheep from the goats based on how they treated the least among them (Matthew 25). If we give to someone who is thirsty, hungry, in prison... we do it to Jesus himself, this is what the bible tells me.

 "When Matthew wrote Jesus' genealogy he included four women. Two of them were gentiles, three of them were taunted by sexual scandal. And a fifth woman, the object of gossip, was pregnant before marriage... The hall of faith includes a list of faithful, only one does it mention a profession. By faith the prostitute Rahab ... Why mention Rahab's profession? Grace" -- Who Is This Man