Daily Thought for Tuesday,August 23rd

August 23, 2011

‘Don’t Laugh At Me’

Today’s Thought:

“Respectability is the social status of people whose sins haven’t quite caught up with them.”  – Edmund H. Volkart

Today’s Quotes:

“Never criticize a man until you’ve walked a mile in his moccasins.”  – American Indian Proverb

 

Today’s Question

“But if we are the Body
Why aren't His arms reaching
Why aren't His hands healing
Why aren't His words teaching
And if we are the Body
Why aren't His feet going
Why is His love not showing them there is a way?” – Mark Hall (lyrics from ‘If We Are the Body’)

Today’s Bible Verses:                     John 8:2-11

And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,  They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.  Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?  This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.  So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.  And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?  She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Today’s Spiritual Thought:

“I'm a little boy with glasses
The one they call the geek
A little girl who never smiles
'Cause I've got braces on my teeth
And I know how it feels
To cry myself to sleep
I'm that kid on every playground
Who's always chosen last
A single teenage mother Tryin' to overcome my past
You don't have to be my friend
But is it too much to ask
I'm the cripple on the corner
You've passed me on the street
And I wouldn't be out here beggin'
If I had enough to eat
And don't think I don't notice
That our eyes never meet
I lost my wife and little boy when
Someone cross that yellow line
The day we laid them in the ground
Is the day I lost my mind
And right now I'm down to holdin'
This little cardboard sign...so
I'm fat, I'm thin, I'm short, I'm tall
I'm deaf, I'm blind, hey, aren't we all.” – Mark Willis (lyrics from ‘Don’t Laugh At Me’)

Often times, many come through the doors of our churches and we look down on them because they don’t dress right or they don’t look appropriate.   Often we esteem them as unworthy of our fellowship because we think we know too much about their past or maybe even their present.

Aren’t you glad Jesus was blind to ethnicity, skin tone and life histories when He died for our sins?

Scripture says: “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear: Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:” – The Bible (1 Peter 1:17-19)

We need to all remember that we, like every other soul, were nothing more than a sinner, in need of a Savior and we weren’t worthy either, but that didn’t stop God from inviting us into the family, when He offered the gift of His salvation to whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord.

Many are hurting, lost and in need: as the members of the body, if we will not embrace them and help them find their way, who will?

“Don't laugh at me
Don't call me names
Don't get your pleasure from my pain
In God's eyes we're all the same
Someday we'll all have perfect wings
Don't laugh at me.” – Mark Willis (lyrics from ‘Don’t Laugh At Me’)

“Jesus paid much too high a price
For us to pick and choose who should come.” – Mark Hall (lyrics from ‘If We Are the Body’)

Today’s Prayer:

Father, I know you don’t accept me because I’m better than anyone else, in fact to you no sinner is any different from any other: we are all in need of grace.  May I be as free to give it as I am to receive it.