Stop Cleaning Up Before You Come In

Called to Follow | Monday Reflection | Week 4

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." — Mark 2:17

Sunday you heard about a paralyzed man whose friends loved him enough to tear a hole in a roof. About a tax collector whose entire career was a billboard of failure sitting at a table full of people nobody respectable would eat with. And about a Jesus who looked at both of them and said yes before they could explain themselves.

Most of us have developed a habit of cleaning up before we come to God. We do not go to Him in the middle of the mess. We go when we have something to show for ourselves. When we have tried harder or done better or at least stopped doing the worst of it. We treat access to Jesus like a reward for progress rather than a resource for people who have none.

But nobody lowered their friend through a roof because things were going well. You do not tear up a ceiling when you have other options. Desperate measures are for desperate people, and desperate people are exactly who Jesus kept showing up for.

The religious people in the room that day were offended that Jesus ate with sinners. Jesus was confused that anyone thought that was surprising. Of course He ate with sinners. Where else was He supposed to eat.

This week, come as you are. Not as you plan to be. Not after you have made some progress on the thing you are ashamed of. Right now. Today. The mess is not a reason to wait. It is the reason to come.

He came for this. He came for you.