Restoring Damaged People (4)

Mon, 13 May 2019

‘He wanted to see who Jesus was.’ Luke 19:3 NIV

The Bible says, ‘Zacchaeus… was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree.’ (Luke 19:2–4 NIV) The story of Zacchaeus teaches us that being rich doesn’t protect us from being damaged. How some wealthy people got damaged is in the story of how they got rich. When you violate your conscience, it’s hard to live in your own skin. When you trade your core values for money, your success can be hollow and your guilt heavy.

Zacchaeus struggled with this and he said to the Lord: ‘If I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.’ (Luke 19:8 NIV) If that’s how you feel today, Jesus is saying to you the three things He said to Zacchaeus:

(1) ‘Make haste.’ Don’t put off your salvation. At any given moment you’re as close to eternity as a faulty heartbeat or a malignant cell. Don’t gamble with your soul; get right with God while you can.

(2) ‘Come down.’ Humble yourself. Kneel at the feet of the One who loves you and gave His life to redeem you. It doesn’t matter how badly you’ve failed: ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ (1 John 1:9 NKJV)

(3) ‘Today I must stay at your house.’ (Luke 19:5 NAS) The Greek word for ‘stay’ means ‘to continue to be present’ or ‘take up residence’. Refuse to live another day without the assurance that Christ lives in your heart, directs your steps, and watches over all that concerns you.