Making Friends

Mark 2:13-17

Many tax collectors and sinners also sat together with Jesus and His disciples. --Mark 2:15

A letter from a friend described the adjustments that his son and daughter-in-law were facing as young missionaries in a country long resistant to the gospel of Christ. "After some rough early going," he wrote, "they are getting used to not having modern conveniences and are falling in love with the people."

A photo showed the couple's 2-year-old-son Wesley and a waiter in a restaurant, both grinning widely as they shared a moment of friendship. My friend commented, "Ever smiling, Wesley makes friends wherever he goes." That got me to thinking. Making friends and loving people is the key to sharing the gospel wherever we are, because that's what Jesus did.

Some religious leaders were surprised when Jesus openly associated with people they considered undesirable. They said to His disciples, "How is it that He eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners?" (Mark 2:16). Yet Jesus was known as the friend of sinners. He said, "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance" (v.17).

A loving heart and a friendly smile go a long way to communicate the love of Christ to the people we meet each day. May they say of us, as they did of little Wesley, "Ever smiling, he makes friends wherever he goes." 

To the lost is where Christ went, Revealing grace from God above;

To lost sinners we've been sent to be their friends, to share God's love.

Loving the lost is the first step in leading them to Christ.