Jesus lived differently

It's kind of interesting and sad at the same time that after coming to understand Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the Living God, many end up distancing themselves from all they used to hang out with the "unchurched" or perhaps we have other terms we may want to use.

Jesus lived differently. One of harshest criticisms Jesus faced was that He spent time with sinners, even ate with them. He intentionally associated with the no longer welcomed and no longer appreciated by the religious folks, he associated with women, foreigners, prostitutes, the sick and the poor, elevated them from the dust and sat with them.
To be fair, it is a natural thing for people to want to be around others who are similar, in their thinking, behaviour, values, and their culture likely more than anything. For that reason perhaps there are such things as ethnic churches, keeping a distance from the different and by some strange coincidence remain attached to the old.  How many of us could be accused of spending too much time with the “others" or whatever other term we may want to use?
Yes, it is a natural thing for Christians to want to be around other Christians, after all something special happens in the fellowship of believers. We worship freely, we feel understood and share something deeply important to us. Hanging out with like-minded people who at the outside “have their stuff together” can be a wonderful thing. But what about the those who struggle, who perhaps live a more approachable and transparent life around us? Are we staying away from them just as the religious people in Jesus time, the Pharisees? 

I for ones have found the one thing, the one person that meets the need in my life, but somehow I keep a distance from those who need the very thing, the very person I’ve found. I don’t think this is intentional, but it does happen, and in the end, our intentions don’t matter, our belief don't matter unless it becomes a believe, an action transforming us from the inside out..

Having our needs met we move on, oblivious perhaps even indifferent to a world that is falling apart all around us.