I've read it a million times, probably acted it out in Godspell too since the same verse appears in Matthew. Never, ever knew what it meant.
I love the fact that Jesus didn't play right...Dig around that verse and see that no one could figure this guy out. He was suppose to act a certain way and here He was a friend of tax collectors and sinners..."But wisdom is proved right by all her children." Luke 7:35.
He hung out with sinners but never behaved like one. When He was with the religious dudes, He didn't get all hoty-toyty...Can't you just imagine how frustrating He must have been?
Being who I am and living the amazing life I have, has often sent my heart spinning....Here I would be, looking at the polished people assuming they were better than I....seriously, wouldn't you? I can be hot tempered, impetuous, emotional...okay, that just described my menopausal state, but in reality that is me!
I've spent a good portion of my life being so insecure that I was desperate for the approval of just about ANYONE in authority or whom I assumed was in authority over me. I assumed others were better because they were kinder or more successful or fill in the blank there...I had pretty low standards. I would be completely whipped around upon the discovery of their feet of clay. In theory, I always knew they had them...but when I peaked under the flowing robes and saw them...I was often set aside because I had actually seen them. I wasn't playing right.
In the last couple of years, I've lost more friends than I gained. I have, again, been spun around by it...but this last go around, I didn't crumble. Now don't think I didn't cry, 'cause you know I did...sometimes a lot. To some degree, I didn't have a chance to think twice but to stand firm in Truth...and I have found that Truth is still relative, even to believers. Compromising the Truth is a game of folly and I didn't play right. I paid for it...Oh boy have I ever.
Now don't think for a minute I was standing on a pompous foot and yelling from a street corner, "SINNERS! SINNERS!!!!!!!!!!" I simply asked that we pray, that we work towards deliverance, that we speak the Truth and deal with the problem. Needing as much forgiveness as I do, I just assumed that everyone knew that they did too...Not being willing to pretend something isn't wrong, is not a gift I have. The problem with having an elephant in the room is that it will crap on the rug...the clean up is way more involved than just removing the darn elephant. I just don't play right.
By now, you know that I am not all that "that" and a bag of chips...or least you should know that by now! When I get to Glory, I have no doubt there is a list of "should" haves and a whole bunch of "could" haves that are waiting for me...but I am beginning to realize that there are going to be a lot of, "That's MY girl" too. I am nothing short of nothing with out Him but with Him? Yeah, I'm pretty hot stuff!
I played by His rules and I am all the better for it...Jesus, friend of sinners...of whom I have often been the worst.
