Misrepresented

A friend of mine recounted a recent experience in which he spent time doing outdoor activities with a young woman, and met some other friends along the way.  Now, this young woman has a bad reputation, however, she has been working to turn her life around.  Unfortunately, her past was no secret from these other friends, and my friend was accosted by them later, wanting to know how he "ended up with 'THAT"?!"  "Don't you KNOW about her reputation?"  I can't remember how he responded, but knowing him as well as I do, I am certain that he messed with them a bit.  My initial response was a fierce anger toward a group of ignorant, self righteous Pharisees.  I told him that I would have handed each of them a large stone and said, "Here you go!  So who wants to go first?!"  WHO DO WE THINK WE ARE??!!  This girl is trying to get her life back on track! She has started to go back to church, and the so-called "church people" want to crucify her!  

WHERE IS THE LOVE?  WHERE IS THE MERCY FOR HER THAT WAS EXTENDED TO US?  WHO WILL REACH OUT TO HER AND OTHERS LIKE HER?  

The Lord has been dealing with my heart and my thinking as He has been bringing people into my life who don't fit into the usual molds that the traditional church has used in the past.  I was blessed to be raised in a loving family who attended church regularly and taught me to love Jesus.  There are so very many people out there who were not so fortunate, but Jesus is just a passionately in love with them!  Oh, how we have misrepresented Him to them!!  The church, in many ways, appears to have lost touch with the heartbeat of Jesus for these precious ones, when loving them and allowing God to transform them is what they need.  I saw a church sign yesterday that stated, "Receive Jesus if you don't want to burn."  Can someone please explain to me how that makes Jesus attractive to the world in any sense?!  I want to tell people, "JESUS LOVES YOU PASSIONATELY!!!"  PERIOD!  I want people to feel His love and hear His heartbeat and see His goodness when they encounter me.  I will encourage them to build relationship with Him.  My heart yearns for those who may never show up at a church, that they may fall madly in love with Jesus when they realize that He truly does love them!  Remember, the news is supposed to be GOOD!!!