Romans 3: 23 For all
have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24
Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus.
If I avoid all people who look like criminal types or have gone to jail or prison, am I being the Christian that Jesus wants?
This is a tricky one, because I have been guilty of this myself. I've heard of so many horrific things on the News, so I've sometimes avoided some people. I was just thinking, it's got to be terrible if people avoided you and didn't smile in passing, because they thought you might be a potential or past criminal. I think the very least Jesus would want would be for us to smile when we see people in passing.
So, if a person had made poor choices in the past, but has paid their debt to society, is it acceptable to avoid them, as well? Well, Jesus's feelings are convey in Romans 3: 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; 24 Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
So, it's not just the criminal or potential criminal that falls short of the glory of God. WE ALL Do! Would we like others to avoid us, not smile at us in passing, because we've made some pretty poor choices in the past, just maybe ones that didn't land us in jail? I don't really think so.
I've met some of the nicest people who made poor choices in the past and have been to jail or prison, but who have changed their ways. As Christians, Jesus would want us to be open to them, actually He wants us to be open and welcoming to all people, not just the ones that we think are socially acceptable. How do they get their fresh start in society if we ignore them, don't smile at them, don't rent to them, don't give them jobs, etc? We all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, but need to respond to others as Jesus would want us to.
