The Gospel in Unexpected Places

Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Brad. Our reading, titled The Gospel in Unexpected Places, was written by Adam R. Holt. Recently, I found myself someplace I'd seen in movies and on TV more times than I could count – Hollywood, CA. There in the foothills of Los Angeles, those enormous white letters marched proudly across that famous hillside as I viewed them from my hotel window.

Then I noticed something else. Down to the left was a prominent cross – I'd never seen that in a movie – and the moment I left my hotel room, some students from a local church began to share Jesus with me. We might sometimes think of Hollywood as only the epicenter of worldliness in utter contrast with God's kingdom, yet clearly Christ was at work there, catching me by surprise with His presence. The Pharisees were consistently surprised by where Jesus turned up.

He didn't hang out with the people they expected. Instead, Mark 2, verses 13-17 tells us, He spent time with tax collectors and sinners – people whose lives practically screamed unclean. Yet there Jesus was, among those who needed Him most. More than 2,000 years later, Jesus continues to plant His message of hope and salvation in unexpected places, among the most unexpected of people. And He's called and equipped us to be a part of that mission.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Mark chapter 2, verses 13-17. Once again Jesus went out beside the lake. A large crowd came to Him and He began to teach them. As He walked along, He saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the tax collector's house. Follow me, Jesus told him.

And Levi got up and followed him. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi's house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with Him and His disciples, for there were many who followed Him. When the teachers of the law, who were Pharisees, saw Him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked His disciples, Why does He eat with tax collectors and sinners? On hearing this, Jesus said to them, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank You for showing up in places where we're tempted to believe You're absent. Thank You for calling us to be part of Your mission. May we spread Your light in the darkness everywhere we go. Thank You, Lord. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Thanks for listening today. I'm Stephen Tabor and today's encouragement was provided by Our Daily Bread Ministries.