On Tuesday, I shared a song from way back in the archives entitled, “Father, I Place into your Hands.” There is one verse of that song that particularly hit home with me.

Father, I want to be with you
And do the things you do.
Father, I want to speak the words
That you are speaking too.
Father, I want to love the ones
That you will draw to you,
For I know that I am one with you.

There is a parable in Luke 15 that Jesus tells to the Pharisees and religious people because they are upset with him for hanging out with “sinners.” He even ATE with them!

³So Jesus told them this story: ⁴“If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? ⁵And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. ⁶When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ ⁷In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!

Luke 15:4-7

People are not projects. I don’t want to be a project. No one wants to be a project. At times it’s been hard to know how to reach out to those who don’t know Jesus without it feeling like a task to check off the list.

If I follow Jesus example, and I believe that is what he invites, I’m going to go to dinner with them and hang out playing cards. Even if someone criticizes me for it. That’s what I love about the last verse of the song. It isn’t about accomplishing a to do list or earning some kind of good Christian merit badge. It’s about loving people.

It is really as simple as that. Love those whom Jesus is drawing to himself. If I’m not quite there yet – that’s okay. He’ll get me there.

Because I am one with him!

How about you? Are you concerned about the one that wandered off? Or is your concern mostly for the 99 who are in the fold who might point and criticize if you go after the one?

Go ahead! Be like Jesus and take someone to dinner!