Guilty by Association

Think about the kid in your 2nd grade class that ate the paste. You know the one I mean. Now imagine all these years later that someone suggests you name your child (or dog) after this person. Ewwww! Not that name. I could NEVER pick that name. That's the kid who ate the paste!

Last summer I got my toe nails painted coral at the salon. Women's Day magazine had said coral was "THE" hot color for summer. When I got home, my daughter said "That looks like the color Nanny always gets." It did. Suddenly I didn't feel stylish, but grandmotherly.

In both these examples, the item itself is fine, but by association becomes "guilty."

Did you know that as Christians, we are the only Bible some people will ever see? So what are you saying about Jesus, by association? When you gossip with girlfriends. When you refuse to apologize for the feelings you've hurt, because they hurt your feelings too. When you don't include someone because YOU don't think they'll fit in with the group. When notice the speck in another's eye, while ignoring the plank in your own.

Jesus is found guilty, by association.

The irony is, that just as Jesus is found guilty by his association with us; We have been found not guilty by our association with him. "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." (John 3:17) Jesus died on the cross, found guilty of our sins, so that we can stand here now and say NOT GUILTY...by association.

James 2:10 -- For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

John 3:16 - - For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.