Giving Jesus the Finger!!

Let me start by saying that whenever Jesus speaks in the Bible...I pay close attention. In the books of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John there are tons of parables that Jesus told as a way of teaching.

I have heard people say time and again that "The Bible says XYZ, therefore it is the gospel." I happen to agree with that statement...BUT...most of the time when I have heard people say this, they are referring to what they THINK a story in the Bible means...not what the actual words in the Bible say...Huge difference!

I say all of this because parables are stories that have underlying meaning. That meaning can be understood various ways...So, as usual, I encourage everyone to read the scripture yourself so that you might gleam your own personal understanding!!

Okay...In Matthew 18:10-14, Jesus tells the story of the Lost Sheep. He is initially referring to a child, but I always connect children to all of us being children of God. He basically says "Hey! If you have a hundred sheep and one goes missing...don't you leave the ninety-nine and go to find the one?"

He then says "And once you find the missing one...don't you rejoice over it being found and brought t there to safety that day more so than you do over the ninety-nine that never stayed?"

Hmmm....It might be hard for us to relate this to sheep, unless you are one of those rare Facebook/Twitter/Techno sheppards out there sleeping in the fields with your sheep and Crackberry on your hip...So let's relate it to children!

If you and I had a 100 children (wow..we've been busy!) and one went missing, would we just say "Oh well...darn." or would we be calling out the National freaking Guard to find that one lost child?? We all know we'd go after the lost one.

And as much as we like to say we'd beat the living snot out of them for going missing...we'd actually hug the living snot out of them once we found them!!

Now think about this...would this be true if the child wandered off? How about if the child was abducted? Now...how about if the child ran away?? I'm pretty sure we'd all react the same way in either of the three circumstances...

Well, that's what Jesus was talking about! It doesn't matter WHY you have been missing...He is constantly looking to find you and welcome you back!!

Why does this scripture effect me?? Well, I personally deal with tons of inner demons. For the longest time, when I would screw up and sin, I would be ashamed to pray...ashamed to read my Bible...ashamed to hang around my Christian friends...etc. But that's not how God works!! This passage tells us this. He opens His arms EVEN WIDER and smiles EVEN WIDER when we return!! God knows we're gonna sin...he made us imperfect!!

Being too ashamed to ask for forgiveness, pray, read the Bible, or go to church is what I call "Giving Jesus The Finger!" It's the devil playing on our human weaknesses.

I mean REALLY! There Jesus is pinned to a cross with these huge nails...crown of thorns...gash in His side...bleeding everywhere so that each of us can be forgiven and we have the AUDACITY and ARROGANCE to say: "Umm...gee-wiz Jesus...thanks, but I just don't feel like I deserve your love right now..."

You might as well be shooting Him a bird while He's on the cross...

I've done some REALLY bad things in my life. I mean...I have broken 10 of the 10 commandments, cause Jesus said that thinking it is the same as doing it...and if you've been married, you have at least thought about murder!! LOL...

Not only is this parable for those Christians that stray from time to time, but also for those of you like me who have basically made a living out of straying in the past!!

"In the same way, it is not the will of your Father in heaven that one of these little ones perish." -Matthew 18:14