I'm a dirty sinner

I can always tell when the Easter season is in full swing.. the weather begins to warm, oddball people hang eggs from their trees and the big church in town takes time out of its existence to tell everyone within mailing distance what slimy low down rotten sinners we are. I mean Thank God too because I would just take a smug arrogant attitude towards life tonight before I went to bed and I would be a sure enough jerk if it wasn't for them mailing out their Easter service invites spelling out my sins and how I can purge myself of Sin and be holy just like them..

The first 7 words have the topic of sin in them. The 12th word is the word "Repent", and I swear if I didn't feel bad enough about life, I could read their literature and be near suicide by the time it was over. They tell you how you fall short, and then they proceed to tell you that God sends Jesus and how our sin NAILED him to the cross. They remind you one more time and how if you attend THEIR service, give your life to Christ and be baptized in THEIR water, all this nasty SIN business will be behind us and we can move on and find other rotten sinners.

The honest truth is? we ARE sinners.. we are lower than the low, but when we realize it, we're probably already Christians or well on our way to becoming one. The lost are not won over by telling them that they have made mistakes, they are won over by the love of God, and his willingness to forgive us to be decided LONG before we ask for it. He is eager to love us. He seeks us out. He does not go on a door to door hunt so that he can grow his churches and increase the Sunday School roster.

God does love his children, but he loves them as lost not the ones that come to be baptized, but ones that have made a million mistakes that he already knows about and how they are going to commit those sins again.

I don't want to appear as arrogant for one posting this, but wouldn't the church win many many more people by spreading out our arms and embracing the world and telling them that He loves them already? God loves those who don't even know they have need for him. Let them decide later if they want him, but invite those who are lost in sin. Let them eat the cookies and drink from the good China. I bet you might win more souls that way??