Jesus was always disappointing some religious person somewhere because of the way He received and embraced folks who were not religious. Some of the religious folks around Him just couldn't grasp that grace and mercy embrace and receive lost and broken people, not make them more lost and broken by rejecting them.

There always seems to be tension with many religious people in that, apparently fragile, matter of being in but not of the world. Maybe it's too difficult a balance to hold to for some. Or, maybe, the craving for personal piety is so strong that the threat of possible contamination trumps everything. It sure makes witnessing rough, though, when one is unable to be meaningfully IN the world because if you can't be IN then there's no way you can be WITH, and if you can't ever be WITH how is anybody other than the saved going to know how wonderful Jesus is?

Come to think about it, if our faith is so fragile that we can't be with unbelievers without fear of possible contamination, than the truthfulness of our faith might just be called into question. If we have faith in a Lord who loved to be among sinners and to eat with them and to fellowship with them, and to invite them in to the kingdom, and the expression of that faith prohibits our doing the same kinds of things, then we are not really of Jesus, are we?

Do you know anybody who does not love Jesus? Love them. Embrace them. Fellowship with them. Pray for them. Build a relationship with them. Receive them.

It's okay to love people. Jesus sure does. After all, He reached out to you one day and received you into His Family. What a great day for you that turned out to be.