Shine : Being With Others - Luke 15:1-7

We often want to be present with others that we want to be present with. It's easy for us today to disconnect or distance ourselves from those that we don't want to be close to. We "forget" to text back, we walk down the other aisle at the grocery store, and we generally avoid and ignore those we'd prefer not to be close with. Jesus does the opposite. Jesus invites the broken, the hurting, the undesirables to approach him. He even eats and drinks with them! Yet he does so for the purpose that they who are lost in the darkness of this world, might be found in him. Jesus does not lower his standards for his followers or compromise his values, yet he interacts with, comes to, and even loves the sinner. Even us!