For Sinners:

Luke 15:2

This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. 

There are so many things that could be said about God.  Descriptions of His power and might. Miraculous signs and wonders.  Mysterious and unsearchable things.  So many ways to describe His majesty and His glory.  To tell of His mercy and His grace.  To ponder His unfathomable ways.  There are so many ways to describe our God, but nothing compares to this.    

For in this description, we meet a God that is set apart from all other gods.  A God that has not allowed His majesty to hold Him back from our misery.  A God who sets aside His glory for a limitless pursuit of our hearts.  A God who not only welcomes sinners, he dines with them.  He invites them to his intimate table, seats them at his right hand, and takes care of all of their needs. 

We meet a God who gives His all to come find His lost sheep.  A God who will go anywhere and do anything, even to the point of death, to be able to bring us back home.  A God who reminds us that we are not the seekers for He came to seek us.  A God who is willing to break the status quo, reach out and humble Himself- in order to lift us up.

We meet a God who brings laughter where there have been tears, a God who brings his love where there has been hate.  We meet a God who sees sin as something to be forgiven and pain as something to be wiped away.  A God who finds it a joy to delight in us, when we finally respond to Him.  A God who gives the life of His son to remind us that we are His.  A God who finds company in us, in sinners.  Who welcomes us, sits with us, resides with us, and eats with us.   

A God who is for sinners, like you and like me. 

Thank you Lord that you put aside your majesty to save us from our misery.  Thank you that you did so to seek us out.  May we be moved during this season of Lent to open our hearts to you in response to such love.