Throwin Out the Baby with the Bathwater

Now usually you don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater, but when the baby gets big and still won’t get outta the tub then sometimes you gotta throw out the whole mess and start from scratch. The old water won’t work anymore because it’s dirty with residue from those who have gone before. Not that there was anything wrong with it - in it’s time, but now what’s left behind is old, cold and moldy. And that’s how I felt, until God seemed to say, “throw out the baby with the bath water” and “you’re the baby!” So what worked before, won’t work no more! I need to do – something new!

And it’s scary because I’ve always patterned my ministry after someone who has gone before. And it was alright for a while, but now but now I’m older and need to get out on my own. Not that I don’t respect my elders in the faith, because I do and am thankful for them. But just because I love my parents doesn’t mean that I should hide at home all my life to stay safe in their shadow.

So it’s a new frontier and there is no map. All I can do is pray, go day by day and let God show me the way. It’s very tempting to quit or try go back. But I’ve already gone too far! And furthermore the Lord is leading me forward. The going seems to be getting more difficult and I know that the only way I’m going to make it is to shed all the baggage and start from scratch. Going forth only with what’s absolutely necessary for salvation and survival.

And so it begins, the Ministry for Misfits. But misfits why? Because! That’s why. Because I can hear their cry, and if they don’t get help, then they may die. And so I have to try - and I must do – something new. I don’t know exactly what it will look like or how or how it will be, just one step at a time - and then we will see.

Matt 9:9-17
9 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him.

10 Now it happened, as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. 11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

12 When Jesus heard that, He said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

14 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?"

15 And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. 16 No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and the tear is made worse. 17 Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved."
NKJV

Luke 5:27-39
27 After these things He went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." 28 So he left all, rose up, and followed Him.

29 Then Levi gave Him a great feast in his own house. And there were a great number of tax collectors and others who sat down with them. 30 And their scribes and the Pharisees complained against His disciples, saying, "Why do You eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?"

31 Jesus answered and said to them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance."

33 Then they said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?"

34 And He said to them, "Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? 35 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days."

36 Then He spoke a parable to them: "No one puts a piece from a new garment on an old one; otherwise the new makes a tear, and also the piece that was taken out of the new does not match the old. 37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined. 38 But new wine must be put into new wineskins, and both are preserved. 39 And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"
NKJV