Christian people always look at me like I have two heads when they hear that my main practice area is criminal defense. And even if they don't ask it, they think "How can you defend guilty people as a Christian?" I used to answer that question by saying that everyone needs a defense or that the American judicial system requires that an accused person be represented by competent counsel.
After reading 1 John 2:1, I stopped saying that. Christ is our advocate (I even wrote a poem about it: http://www.christart.com/poetry/poem2635.htm) . He never says to the Father, "My blood doesn't cover that sin." So now I tell people that Christ shed His blood for the guilty, not the innocent. I tell people that if Christ could go through the torture and agony of the cross for EVERY sinner, then I can represent a guilty person...no matter how morally reprehensible I find their conduct. What if I am the only Christ they will ever see in this life?
Christ Himself was criticized by the Pharisees because He associated with sinners and people that the Pharisees deemed unworthy. But who else should He have associated with? Was He not sent into the world for the lost?
Unfortunately, outside of my career, I tend to be more like the Pharisees in my thinking. A lot of us do because it is more convenient. Every day we pass by one of those people with whom good Christians such as ourselves should never associate. I mean, what would our church family say if they saw us hanging out with a person who drank, smoked and swore all the time? Or did something else that we see as very ungodly...
On the other hand, what if the only way that "unsavory" person will hear the message of the Gospel is through us? What if we are the only Christ that person will ever know?
As theologian Steve Brown would say, you think about that...
After reading 1 John 2:1, I stopped saying that. Christ is our advocate (I even wrote a poem about it: http://www.christart.com/poetry/poem2635.htm) . He never says to the Father, "My blood doesn't cover that sin." So now I tell people that Christ shed His blood for the guilty, not the innocent. I tell people that if Christ could go through the torture and agony of the cross for EVERY sinner, then I can represent a guilty person...no matter how morally reprehensible I find their conduct. What if I am the only Christ they will ever see in this life?
Christ Himself was criticized by the Pharisees because He associated with sinners and people that the Pharisees deemed unworthy. But who else should He have associated with? Was He not sent into the world for the lost?
Unfortunately, outside of my career, I tend to be more like the Pharisees in my thinking. A lot of us do because it is more convenient. Every day we pass by one of those people with whom good Christians such as ourselves should never associate. I mean, what would our church family say if they saw us hanging out with a person who drank, smoked and swore all the time? Or did something else that we see as very ungodly...
On the other hand, what if the only way that "unsavory" person will hear the message of the Gospel is through us? What if we are the only Christ that person will ever know?
As theologian Steve Brown would say, you think about that...
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