Bridging the Gap...

Here is what I was thinking today while driving about to various places in the Peg.

If Jesus was comfortable hanging out with thieves, liars, prostitutes and the dregs of society, why does the idea of doing that make me uncomfortable?
If Jesus was holy, pure and perfect.
The gap between his purity and the sin of the people in his social circle was HUGE, but he was able (throught grace?) to bridge that gap.

The gap between his goodness and their sin, was MUCH bigger than the gap between my sinful nature and the sin of "those" guys.
YET...sometimes I feel like I don't know how to talk to drug addicts, prostitutes, theives etc. Should I not avoid people who live in this way? (Who make poor life choices???)
WHY?
Because I fear that they will suck me into that world of sex, drugs and violence?
Because I have become so much more pure and holy than they are?
Because I should only see them as a mission, or project that I can fix?
Because I make better life choices and deserve better?

The truth is that my sin is as great as any other sin, and by the grace of God I live where I live, I was raised where I was raised and I was blessed to be introduced to the living God at an early age.
I need not fear sin as more powerful in this day and age and worry about it overpowering me.
I need not fear or avoid sin or sinners. Jesus didn't.

The truth is that sin is not any worse now than it was in Jesus time.
Prostitution is the same now as it was then, drug addiction holds the same power, corruption is as evil now as it was when Jesus walked the earth. He didn't fear it, or avoid it but rather faced it head on. Is this the example set before me?

If He was holy, and pure and He could hang-out with the worst of the worst without fear of corruption...what am I doing, spending my time avoiding "the world"?

I do not want to become another Christian who is irrelevant to the world.

And those were my thoughts for the day....