Tonight I had the opportunity to spend time with some friends at their young adult family dinner. As I looked around the room at the many people I didn’t know, I started thinking about how I’ve viewed relationships over the years.

This dinner was held at the church building (when the family dinners started, it was held at one of the church member’s houses, but the group has grown significantly). As I approached the building, there were three guys outside smoking. After I got inside, I heard a guy introducing a pregnant girl to someone he knows saying, “This is my girlfriend.” I saw people of all shapes, sizes and styles.

I couldn’t help but think about how earlier in my life, I would have thought, “Man…how screwed up are some of these people.” But you see, that’s the attitude that gets Christians their “judgmental and unforgiving” label. There is no way I can make Christ relevant to a person if I am going to let a person’s imperfect stand in the forefront. Heaven knows I have imperfections. And I’m sure people could point them out and condemn me as well.

Read Mark 2:15-17. It’s pretty wild when you think about it.

Thanks for reading,
Jon Cole