If a drug addict or a prostitute walks into your church and your first instinct is to hide them in the back, keep them at a distance, or make sure they don’t make anyone feel uncomfortable, you need a heart check. In all truth, you need to be the first person to go to the altar. The church was never meant to be a museum for people who have their lives together; it was meant to be a hospital where broken, struggling, and searching people could encounter God’s grace and mercy. Too often, the modern church celebrates outreach in theory but becomes uncomfortable when the very people it claims it wants to reach actually show up at the doors. We welcome the polished, respectable, and the familiar, while quietly pushing aside those whose struggles are visible. As you read the scriptures you will see that the Lord Jesus spent time with people that most of the modern day church tries their best to avoid. When someone who is battling through life or trapped in poor choices walks through the doors, they should not be treated as a project, a problem, or a public relations concern—they should be treated as a person made in the image of God. A person should never be defined by their struggle. A church that welcomes the wealthy businessman while avoiding the addict, or embraces the family with perfect appearances while judging the less fortunate, has confused respectability with righteousness. When stories about exclusive memberships, wealth, and privilege become occasions for laughter and admiration, while the very people the church is called to serve are struggling to put food on their tables, there is a deeper problem than many may realize. We can become so impressed by status, influence, and outward success that we overlook the struggles of those around us and the very people Christ consistently drew near to—the poor, the hurting, the forgotten, and the marginalized. Jesus never demanded that people clean themselves up before coming to Him. In fact, He was criticized for spending time with the very people religious society wanted to keep at arm’s length. The real test of a church’s heart is not how it treats its most respected members, but how it treats the person everyone else is tempted to avoid. If our seating arrangements, our attitudes, or our reactions communicate that some sins are more acceptable than others, then we have missed the heart of Christ. The church is not a country club for the redeemed; it is a refuge for those who know they need a Savior. The ground at the foot of the cross is level, and every person who walks through the doors of what once was considered holy, stands in need of the same grace and mercy. Before we judge anyone else, we should remember that pride, self-righteousness, and a lack of compassion are sins too, and all too often this spirit comes from many pulpits and not just the pews. If there is room for us in God’s house despite our failures, then there is room for all others as well. And if their presence in the sanctuary offends us more than our own sin offends us, then the problem is not sitting in the back row—it is sitting in our own hearts. As I look back on how I have been treated over the years because of my past, my appearance, or my character defects, I reflect on what is written in *James 2:1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, ‘You sit here in a good place,’ and say to the poor man, ‘You stand there,’ or, ‘Sit here at my footstool,’ have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well; but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.* These words are just as relevant today as when they were first written. The temptation to favor those with influence, wealth, status, or social acceptance while overlooking those who are fighting to survive is more evident in the church today than I can ever remember. It may be due to the fact that the less fortunate can’t give any money for salaries or to keep the lights on. Yet Scripture is clear that God does not measure people by the standards we often use. He sees beyond appearances and status and looks at the heart. The church must never become a place where people are measured by how they are dressed or look, their past, their income, or their struggles, but a place where every person can encounter the love of God. If we truly believe that the ground is level at the foot of the cross, then we must be willing to welcome the people Christ welcomed, love the people Christ loved, and see every person through the eyes of God rather than through the lens of status or respectability. Perhaps the greatest heart check of all is this: When someone whom the world has rejected walks through the doors of the church we are so proud of, do they encounter the judgment of the church—or the grace of God? Jesus, Scripture, grace, and humility are at the heart of the Gospel. They are what give the church its substance—not the building, its amenities, or the status of the people inside it. The true measure of a church is not what it has built around itself, but whether the people who walk through its doors can see and experience the love of Christ in a genuine way. In closing: If Jesus came to your church would you actually let Him in or treat Him as a less desirable? 

My BeLoved, may the grace and peace of the Lord Jesus, the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen. In Christ Love, douglas. HE>i. pastord.blog

Special Note: I want to thank those who read what I write and are encouraged to support the ministry God has entrusted to me either one time or have decided to give on a monthly basis. I am encouraged to see certain verses playing out before my eyes like what is written in *Philippians 4:16 For even in Thessalonica you sent aid once and again for my necessities. 17 Not that I seek the gift, but I seek the fruit that abounds to your account.*

To any who are interested, please feel free to reach out to me with prayer requests, questions, encouragement, or for information on how to come alongside me with financial support at pastord.blog@gmail.com or I do have a Zelle account associated with my phone number, 5202720387 last name Blaser. Thank you my Beloved for your ongoing prayers and support.