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Motley Crew


I’ve heard the phrase a ‘motley crew’ my whole life but I guess I never actually knew what it meant.

 I had always associated it with pirates and so I took it to mean a crew of criminal types. An association of ne’er-do-wells that have all sort of negative connections. But that’s not it.

 Motley simply means varied or assorted. Some things that you might not think go together. That being said the apostles were a motley crew. Fishermen and tax collectors, religious zealots, and uneducated men. Yet because of Jesus, they became a force that turned the world upside down.  

 In truth, the church is a motley crew. People from all different backgrounds and places. Folks from every tribe and tongue of the Earth. Yet they are united together by the Son of God.

For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble;  but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God.

1st Corinthians 1:26-29 

 

 I think we need to remember that when it comes to increasing the kingdom. Perhaps, sometimes we typecast those that are potential converts.  Assume who will and who won’t listen to the Good News. But the gospel message is for whosoever will. It doesn’t matter what a person was but what they will be in Christ.  We need to sow the seed and let God give the increase. And we never know from where that seed might pop up.

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