Are the sinners in your life really sinful enough?

I wonder at times if I inject myself far enough into the world to draw God's power as fully as He wants to demonstrate it. My first answer is, sure, there are sinners everywhere, we're all sinners. But, my second glancing blow at the question sticks a little bit more. Jesus hung out with prostitutes (I don't do that), tax collections (I don't do that), sick and dying-if not dead-people (I don't do that), the outcast (I don't do that) and the generally all-around-unaccepted-and-unacceptable people in our society. So, how do I do that?

As a parent, I think, I don't want my kids exposed to things that could give them bad influences. But, then I am forced to think of the Apostles. Peter most likely had children. We know he was married because Jesus healed his mother-in-law. Mother-in-laws only come in one flavor, though marriage relationships. To imagine Peter having children is really not a far stretch at this point. So, I wonder, what did Peter think? Did he ever wonder if his kids were going to get a bad influence as he followed Jesus around healing leprosy, talking to Samaritan women and healing the dead?

In today's world, we are so afraid of these things that we isolate ourselves from those who need us most. I know as a parent, I don't want prostitutes in my house because they might do things that will make my children go ways that are potentially sinful. But, in reality, I think Christ would be saddened by this. This quietly presumes that God is not capable of protecting my kids. I guess part of it is the idea that I do not feel truly capable of protecting my kids and my wife from the things that might enter our lives when we open those doors.

Sometimes people who are on the edge of society are less concerned with obeying societies rules and tend to do more of what they want or need to do regardless of the consequences. That kind of abandon frightens me. What if a crack addict we try to heal doesn't accept Christ, breaks into my house and kills one of my kids? Or, what if one of the prostitutes we try to heal has AIDS and affects one of us? These are real questions, but certainly not things God can't take care of. I guess I confess my fear outweighs my faith at this point and pray that God will give me the courage to do the things he places in my spirit regardless of what my mind presents as valid reasons for not doing these things.

I think about the irony of 1 Corinthians. This book of the Bible is often one of the most cited, most "Christian" books in the entire New Testament. It talks about love, spiritual gifts and the Body of Christ. But, people forget that Paul was writing a congregation that had orgies, sexual sin, pride, incest and internal division and strife as some of the more obvious issues going on in their midst. Now, let me ask you, if your church was in this state, would you still be attending it? I know it was a different time and sexual practices were more tied to religion of that day, but, still, these people had some major sin issues.

At the heart of the fact is this: Paul was allowed to speak some of the most powerfully unpacked applications of Christ's life in this epistle because the sin was so great. Indeed, corporate education is needed to impact the ignorance and lack of faith demonstrated by these people because fundamental understandings and principles of Christ was truly grasped in this body. Minor issues are easily dealt with, but, the great power of Christ is most clearly displayed where the most deficient segments of relationship and understanding of God are. For me, to impact the way the Apostles impacted, I have to do something radical, something that goes to the root of the situation, and go where their is the most ignorance of Christ, both as the result of negligence and as the result of willful rejection. There Christ, as he did with the Corinthians, can do the most good. It is those who don't know that can be affected the most, because if you do know and simply don't do, you are responsible for your own lack of responsiveness to the call of Christ.