A New Day...

A line from one of my favorite movies says "Every new day is fresh with no mistakes." Today I awoke with determination that it would be a better day than yesterday. So far, so good.... It's amazing to think that each time I mess up & confess I can go to Jesus and receive forgiveness. In a sense, I get several new starts every day. God has given me so many chances! Now I want to flip the coin a little here- I talk a lot about how much Jesus loves sinners... I want to say how much He loves people who are caught up in legalism. Throughout the 4 Gospels, I see Jesus reaching out to the religious leaders of His day. They were often present as He spoke in different synagogues- though their ears heard what He said, their hearts didn't. Thinking themselves wise, they were spiritually blind. Jesus wants ALL to be saved. Why else would He say so many times, "He who has ears, let him hear" as He spoke to mixed crowds? The legal-minded pharisee was dead in trespasses- without knowing it. Jesus raised Lazerus from the dead in the very presence of these leaders in order to demonstrate that He can bring us to life spiritually. He had called them "white-washed tombs", but He did not leave them to feel hopeless. As a living, breathing Lazerus emerged from a tomb, Jesus proved again that He is Lord and offered an invitation to believe! Yet, for the sake of their traditions and because of wounded pride, they found reason to turn away. They weren't all out of reach though! Jesus & the religious leader Nicodemus got to know each other pretty well. They met under cover of darkness- Nicodemus would have been an outcast if anyone had seen him fraternizing with a rabble-rouser, that liberal Nazarite Jesus. Nicodemus was converted. Saul, merciless persecutor of Christians joined the ranks and suffered much because of the merciful Savior he met on the highway. I identify greatly with the pharisee- having been one- glad God didn't give up on me! A precious handful of people kept reaching out to me. So often after people find Grace, they are disgusted to the utmost by the legalism so prevalent in many people/churches. They close their hearts and turn from those who are bound by a focus on works- as if there is no hope for them. Who is to judge how long is the arm of Grace? Even as spikes were being driven into His hands & feet, Jesus' heart was holding the door of salvation wide open! "Father, forgive them... Father forgive- for they know not what they do". Do I ever have just cause to close my heart to any man? Jesus lived and died so that ALL could be saved. If the Grace we find in Him doesn't make us more understanding, more patient, more fervent to love- what good has it done? God offers a new day- a new way of life to everyone- tax collectors, whores, drug-dealers, alchoholics, liars, terrorists and yes even to pharisees. How can anyone turn their back on that kind of love?!