A Zacchaeus Heart

What’s up Brothers and Sisters? Today’s post is going to be interesting, yet applicable! I love it when God takes a passage and opens it a new way in my heart. Today I want to focus on showing you the story of Zacchaeus. For those of you that know the story this will be a refresh, for those who don’t you will probably read the following passage and see multiple things that you never knew about Jesus. 

“1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.” 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” LUKE 19:1-10

The thing I love about this passage is that is so much bigger than the Sunday school song we used to sing. “Zacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he!....” here is what the Lord showed me the other day about this passage. He showed me the heart of Zacchaeus. I wish I could have a Zacchaeus heart every day. Think about it! Zacchaeus wanted to see who Jesus was, and had a hard time doing so because of his height. In that moment, he noticed that he could do something about it and did. He ran farther down the road and climbed a tree. He Did Everything He Could To See Jesus.  Guess what? HE SAW JESUS!

Now as if that wasn’t enough to make this story amazing, God shows us more. Jesus is walking, and He doesn’t simply walk past, He sees Zacchaeus! Zacchaeus ran ahead, climed a tree, found Jesus, and in return Jesus acknowledged him and invited him to dine at table. Think about it, Jesus came into town, and asked an average man, a complete sinner to sit at table with him. Furthermore, at the dinner we see a transformation of that same sinner! Isn’t this supposed to be a picture of our everyday lives with Jesus? 

What if every day we realized that since we fall short in our sin, that we can’t truly see Jesus? What if we ran ahead of the rest, gave all we had and climbed a tree to see Jesus? This process could be anything from prayer, to fasting, or even serving. This passage shows that in seeking after Jesus with everything we have, even while we fall short in our sin, that Jesus will acknowledge us in front all and He will invite us to dine at table. In other words, He will have an intimate, deep, relational moment with us that very day. Praise the Lord!

Are you giving every day, every moment, every breath your all to “climb the tree” in order to see Christ even though you are short in your sin? Do you have a Zacchaeus Heart?

“13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” JEREMIAH 29:13

I love you Beloved!

Bond-Servants Of Christ

Today I want to take a quick look at a way we as believers should see ourselves when it comes to this Christian walk. The Apostle Paul always has extensive openings to his letters that depicts who he is for the reader. He calls himself Apostle, set apart or holy, called by the will of God, but there is one title he refers to himself as that strikes me as odd. Or at least it used to till recently. In Romans 1:1 Paul says the following:

“1Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,”

That’s right he calls himself a Bond-Servant. This literally means a servant without pay, or a slave. Why would Paul call himself this? He’s a Slave of Christ? What does this mean for us? Think about this for a moment, Jesus said it himself:

“Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant.”And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all. "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many." MARK 10:43-45 

See Paul knows that he is free to make his own choices, but there is just something inside him that forces him to do the will of God. His love for Jesus enslaves him to walking according to His will. Think of it this way, the Bible says that we were a slave to sin, but set free. (Romans 6:18) In this we have become slaves to righteous living. What’s that mean? If I were a slave and someone came long and bout me with a price, and then told me, “You’re free to go.” I would act a little differently. In fact I would probably surrender my life to that person and choose to serve them for the rest of my life because I wouldn’t know how else to repay them. They set me free, which means they have what’s best for me in their heart. They would protect me. 

This is what Jesus did for us! He gave his life, the full payment for our lives, so that we could be free. We as believers are free to do what we want but we know that serving Him is what is best for us. He has the best things in store for us! This is what Paul means by this term.  Christian rapper Flame says it best in his song Surrender, “Jesus here's my white flag/I surrender right now…. Right now…. I surrender right now. Jesus here's my white flag/I surrender right now…. Right now…. I surrender right now.”

Remember, again, you were bought with a price. Christ came to serve. Are you going to follow in his footsteps? Are you going to be His Bond-Servant?

God Bless you Beloved!

The Vintage Cross

Today, I’d like to focus on something that we’ve been looking at in youth last week. I think it is almost essential for everyone as believers. We’re on a series called Vintage Jesus and it’s all about looking into some of the key views of what it means to be Christian. The point I want to focus on is the Cross. The main sign of the Christian Church American at least. Or is it? I mean, I thought it was until I saw a lot of people wearing it. Madonna wears it. Kanye West used an image of in his music video for Jesus Walks. There are many other people I know that have reduced the Cross to a small pendent, or a 10 inch tattoo on their body. The last time I read the scripture however, I found that the cross is way more than the “Main Sign of the Christian Church American.” Last time I looked it was a call to remembrance of what Christ did for us!

“23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, THROUGH THE REDEMPTION THAT IS IN CHRIST JESUS, 25whom God put forward as a PROPITIATION by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.” ROMANS 3:23-25 

The Cross is a reminder of Christ’s Sacrifice. The word propitiation means the Sacrifice of Atonement. This sacrifice was one that was need for the sinner to be forgiven, and to have right relation with God the Father. Jesus is that Sacrifice. See the cross is even deeper than that! Think about it. Jesus, fully Man and fully God, Perfect and Holy, Humble in all his ways, and the best representation of how we as people are to live wasn’t just put on a cross. 

HE WAS NAILED TO IT, 

HE WAS HUNG UP IN THE AIR,

AND HE VICIOUSLY SUFFOCATED ON IT. 

HE DIDN’T DESERVE THAT DEATH.

WE DID!

We should have been on that cross! We should have had to carry the cross to Calvary. We should have had the Nails in our body. We should have been Mocked, Disrespected, and Put to Shame. He took it!

“We are saved from God’s wrath through Him (Jesus).” ROMANS 5:9

See God’s wrath was burning against mankind since the choice to follow the temptation in the Garden. The Jews had to do regular sacrifices to come to God. But they were constantly coming because God’s wrath was constantly growing against them, because they are sinners. Jesus took the Wrath of God, ALL

OF IT! This is the Good news, That when Jesus took the Wrath of God on the Cross, died, was buried, and in three days Rose Again that not only did he take our death, but WE GAINED HIS LIFE! HALLELUJAH!

This is what the Cross means. This is what it calls us to remember! If this is the case, then how does it apply to use as Followers, as Christians? If this is what we believe, then we act differently than what we used to! We are changed! We don’t have to follow after money, happiness, sex, drugs, or anything else that fills the unrest we all as people seem to have. We seek after Jesus! Because He is the one who can successfully and consistently fill the unrest! All our freedom from bondage, all our Joy, all our Love, everything we are comes from Jesus. To walk in these things though, you truly have to believe that this is true. Last question, do you really believe this is true if you are standing one foot in the world and one foot in Christ? No…. The Bible says you can’t. I’m ready to Go All In! It’s time to Let God renew our minds and for Him to let the meaning of the Cross be evident in our lives!

I write this because I love you Beloved!

Wash Your Robe

Happy New Year everyone! 2011 is going to be huge for the Kingdom of God, and in knowing this, I wanted to write this challenge to you. I recently read through the book of Revelation and found very good insights on things. Today I’m going to share one of them with you and hope it challenges your faith too.

“12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End. 14 “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” REVELATION 22:12-15

First we must notice how the beginning of this passage starts out. This is Christ speaking here, and he is telling us that we must understand that he is coming soon! Now some would say, well this was written over 2000 years ago and he still isn’t here so why live like this is true. God’s been showing me that when we live with a sense of urgency of the 2^nd Coming of Christ that we tend to rely on him more. We tend to Seek him harder than we ever have before. 

 

Verse 14 and 15 is what beat me around the most. Blessed are they who was their robes… this can be take a few ways. First, I thought to myself that my robe is very gross and covered in nastiness. In the context of this scripture, I can’t simply take off my robe and throw it in some washing machine, I would have to had cleaned it by hand. In most cases I’m still wearing my robe of nastiness and telling everyone that my robe is washed compared to theirs. People actually buy the idea that mine is clean, so I really never clean it. That’s gross right? Jesus is the only person who has a clean robe. See this Christian walk is about comparing our life to Jesus, not comparing it to others. You know what else is scary, earlier in the book of Revelation we find out that the only way to wash our robes is to believe in Jesus and to serve him. By doing this, He is the one who washes our robe for us because of his death and resurrection from the grave. You see we don’t even have a way to clean our robe without Christ, and when He does come back He will be able to clearly tell who has a robe of nastiness and who has a cleaned robe!

Last little thing to show you is what verse 15 says. “15 Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.” Now you may not think you fall into these categories but it think this sums up a lot of the worldly ways.  This verse is referring to the new Jerusalem.  The city that comes don’t from heaven where humans will live with God in the city for eternity. This is a reminder that if we don’t rest in Christ everyday to wash our robes, we will be outside of the new city. We will be away from God’s presence. We will pray and our prayers will be heard no more. This shouldn’t scare you if you are already resting in Jesus to wash your robe, if you have relationship with Him.  Let this be a call to you if you are trying to wash your robe, because guess what. 

YOU CAN’T

This New Year:

1.       Live like He’s coming soon.

2.       Rest in Jesus to wash your robe.

3.       Remember that the followers of verse 15 will be outside the walls.

I love you Beloved.