Thankful for hospitals

Mark 2:17 (ESV)

And when Jesus heard it, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Maybe you’ve heard the saying “The church is not a museum of saints but a hospital for sinners.” Whoever said that might well have based it on Jesus’ words in this passage.

Levi was a tax collector, and when Jesus had dinner at Levi’s house, they were joined by other tax collectors and sinners.

Tax collectors helped the Roman Empire by collecting money from the local people, so they were not very popular in the community. To help pay themselves, they were also known for collecting extra money for their own pockets, which made them even more disliked. In Mark 2, we hear that the religious leaders criticized Jesus for spending time with tax collectors and sinners.

But Jesus reminded the religious leaders that sinners were ­exactly the kind of people he had come to save. Jesus offered his love to everyone, even sinners. In fact, since every person sins, it may be easier for those who know they are sinners to admit that they need Jesus. They do not have so much of their own pride getting in the way.

It is wonderfully honest to admit that we are sinners in need of God’s grace. We can have the courage to make that confession because Jesus is ready to receive us. If sin is the sickness, Jesus is the cure.

Dear Lord, we confess that we are a sinner in need of Your grace. Thank You for sending Jesus; he forgives our sins, heals us, and makes us whole. In the Name of Jesus, Amen.

Christ Jesus Came into the World to Save "Cinders"

Out in that yard of yours in the springtime, you clean up the ashes that have been accumulating during the winter season. Piles of ashes out there in the yard grow through the winter, and then in the spring you hire someone to come and cart them away. Ashes are from coal—coal that has been burned and consumed. Coal is carbon, and that beautiful, shining white stone in the engagement ring on your hand, lady, is carbon also. The diamond the king wears in his crown and the ashes out there in the yard are made of the same stuff!



Down in the state prison are some cinders of men, clinkers, burned out, only the ashes of life left. Down in some sections of the city are the women of the streets, burned out, clinkers, cinders, only the ashes of life are left. But the gospel is the good news that Jesus Christ can take the carbon (clinkers, if you will) and transmute it into a diamond, a gem for His own crown, made out of the ashes of sin.


A little girl made a strange misquota­tion of a verse but she told the truth when she said, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save cinders." Yes, He did He takes the clinkers, the cinders, the ashes, the burned-out, hopeless lives, and makes them glorious and new.—Will H. Houghton, in The Living Christ.






Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.


-1 Timothy 1:15 (New International Version)






Dear Lord we thank you for coming into our life and saving us from our sins. We pray that we would not give into the temptations that come our way. In Jesus’ name, amen