After months of vowing not to, I finally signed up on Facebook and Twitter. My fears that these social media tools would rob me of precious writing time as I waded through endless updates have largely proven true! But the pros have outweighed the cons— particularly in keeping in touch with listeners to my radio program, Open House.

Open House has an audience of both believers and skeptics, each from a variety of backgrounds. So it was to be expected that I’d get a variety of folks inviting me to be their Facebook friend—including some with a lifestyle that’s contrary to biblical Christianity. How will this look to others? I wondered for a time. Should I press “Accept” or “Ignore” to their invitation?

A tax collector named Levi once threw a party to celebrate his being chosen as Jesus’ disciple (Mark 2:14-15). Because he made citizens pay taxes to the Romans, Levi was considered a traitor by fellow Jews and was placed in the same league as prostitutes and Gentiles. So you can imagine the friends he invited to his party! The Pharisees were disgusted to see Jesus at this celebration, sitting around in full acceptance of all this “scum” (Mark 2:16).

While Jesus attracted some colorful followers (Mark 2:15), it appears that the party was not filled with repentant people. And this is striking. Jesus, the Son of God, did not require repentance before He offered acceptance. And why was that? Because “healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do” (Mark 2:17).

Jesus was more concerned with reaching people than with protecting His reputation. He hit “Accept” on their invitations, no matter who they were, and ended up changing them by doing so (Luke 19:5-10). Since our acceptance ends up changing us, don’t you think we should offer it to others?