IDear Friend,

Please don't

put Jesus in the same ranks with all those people, those folks with whom

you feel no freedom to be yourself.

Jesus was not

like that. He is not like that. You say you feel judged, condemned when

you are with them. It seems like they know you had a beer with your pizza

last week and that, somehow, because you did, they cannot accept you into

their circle.

Then I must

ask, do you really want to belong to their circle? Think it through. Yes,

you are new in town, and making friends isn't easy in a small community

where everybody who belongs seems to have belonged forever. But, are you

searching for a place to belong, or a sense of belonging? There is a difference,

you know.

As I think

of you today I am reminded of the beautiful old invitation hymn which

is sung at the close of many of Billy Graham's crusade services, and in

a great number of churches around our land:

"Just

as I am without one plea but that thy blood was shed for me and that thou

bidst me come to thee, oh Lamb of God I come, I come..."

I think there

are five or six verses of the song and they are all quite moving and certainly

the words are inviting, but only the first and last intermingle with my

thoughts of you today ...

"Just

as I am, thy love unknown hath broken every barrier down. Now, to be thine,

yea, thine alone, oh Lamb of God, I come! I come!"

There is in

all of us, I believe, the desire to belong to someone ... to something

beyond ourselves. We hunger to know the unconditional love of someone,

somewhere.

People stand

in worship centers all over the world, surrounded by those who profess

to possess such an unconditional love for others; yet, it is sad that

so many who temporarily stand in such circles walk away feeling so unloved

and unaccepted.

I have a major

problem with much that is done and said in the name of God across our

land and around the world. We would do well to remind ourselves that it

is one thing to belong to a popular community social club, and it is quite

another thing to belong to such a club and call it God's house.

You see, I

am of the persuasion ... in fact, I am convinced that God, in Christ,

came to earth to demonstrate a kind of unconditional love that knows no

boundaries. If he would have allowed himself to go to the cross for us

(and I do believe he ALLOWED it ... I believe he could have called 10,000

angels to his aid at any point if he had so chosen), then surely he would

not have been above going to the local pizza parlor and sharing a meal

with a young man who chose to drink a beer with his pizza.

There is no

doubt in my mind but that Christ literally came to seek and to save the

lost. He came to seek them, and to find them wherever they were. He still

seeks and finds us wherever we are. He knows how we ache to belong. ...

He knows the hearts which search for him, which long for the love he so

longs to give.

Yes, you hunger

for fellowship. You want friends. You want to belong. But, first, search

the Scriptures. In prayer, ask and seek until you find the kind of loving

acceptance for which your heart hungers. And when you have received it,

as you surely will, go