Not to call the righteous!

Thought For Today - September 13
 Not to Call the  Righteous!
By: Robert A Searles

    Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. When God the Father saw the lost condition of the human race, he did not want to pour out his righteous wrath upon us to punish, but he had compassion and revealed his great love for mankind by giving himself in the person of Jesus Christ as a ransom for our redemption. 

    While here on earth, Jesus purposely drew near and associated himself with the lowest of the low, so that he might save us and lift us up and plant our feet on higher ground. Jesus, the great physician, realized that a healthy person does not need a physician, but the sick for whom he came to minister. God who is the God of love and mercy does not require sacrifice and penance, but rather, offers as a free gift to all who will receive it, grace and mercy. Jesus did not come to call the righteous, or those who thought that they were righteous, instead he came to call the lost, the weak, the sick, the homeless; those who were poor in spirit and were well aware that they were sinners and needed salvation.

    The self righteous scribes and Pharisees could not understand why, if he were God, Jesus would want to associate and sit down and eat and have fellowship with such people.

    Jesus did not wait until we became righteous through our own good works before he gave himself for us to save us but, "while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior that being justified by his grace we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." Titus 3:5-7.

    While sitting at the table with the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus discerned their thoughts -  "And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, why eateth your master with publicans and sinners? But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, they that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick. But go ye and learn what that meaneth. I will have mercy and not sacrifice; for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Matthew 9: 10-13.

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