[Difference Makers] Diverse Dining Sample

Difference Makers Share God’s Heart

You are in Matthew’s house. The dinner table is right here. Where will you sit? Which group are you in? Are you sitting with the disciples, in Jesus’ group? Are you in the group of sinners and tax collectors? Are you outside, one of the Pharisees? Are you walking with God, ministering with Him and His followers, or are you a ministry for them? 

Which group is Jesus’ inner circle? It isn’t the sinners and tax collectors, nor the Pharisees, but the disciples. Jesus walked in full obedience to His Father. His inner circle shared His desire to walk in God’s will. If you are young, in life or in belief, pay attention: your inner circle should be people who share your same heart for Jesus. Choose your friends very carefully. Who you hang out with on Friday night will affect, in many ways, how you live out the rest of your life. 

Difference makers dine with diversity but speak with clarity. We get mixed up. We tell ourselves, “Jesus ate with the tax collectors and sinners,” so we decide to do the same. But it is important to have an inner circle of friends who can challenge and encourage you to pursue God’s heart. A cloudy heart brings a cloudy mind; a clear heart brings a clear mind. Do your friends enable you to minister, or do they confuse you to the point that you become just like them and don’t even know what clarity is anymore? Many who dine with diversity can fail to speak with clarity. 

Others are like the Pharisees. They can speak with clarity but never dine in diversity because they become judgmental. They don't want to be around “those people.” The longer you walk with God, the harder it can be to dine with diversity, because you begin making all these Christian friends.

Christianity is when you put the two together: when you dine in diversity and you speak with clarity. So, eat lunch with everyone else, hang out with people all the time, but stay close to Jesus. If you are dining with diversity, are you still able to speak with clarity? If you’re still speaking with clarity, are you still dining with diversity? 

Pray: Jesus, help me dine with diversity, speak with clarity, and be one of the people who shares Your heart.