DAILY REMINDER – Today, November 1’s Bible reading is Luke 19-20.
NEXT DAY REMINDER – Tomorrow, November 2’s Bible reading is Luke 21-22.
May God bless you with the reading of His WORD.
LUKE MOMENT – (01NOV19) “And Jesus said
to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of
Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:9-10).
Jesus was going into the city of Jericho when a man by the name of Zacchaeus, a
tax collector, tried to catch of glimpse of Him through the crowd. Due to his
short height, he was unable to see beyond the crowd and decided to climb into a
tree so that He could see Jesus as He passed by. Once Jesus came to his spot,
Jesus looked up in the tree and told him to come down, for He was going to his
house that day. Zacchaeus was happy about the news, but some of the people were
not because Zacchaeus was a tax collector who had gotten wealthy by cheating
them. Nevertheless, Zacchaeus promised to pay restitution to those he cheated.
Jesus let the people know that he had received salvation because He had come to
save the lost.
Zacchaeus was dealing with two
problems at hand. He had a physical one which was brought on by his height and
the fact that he was a tax collector whom people hated. In modern times, he would
be a midget who worked for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Nevertheless, he
did not allow his problems to stop him from trying to see Jesus. His height was
against him and the people too, but where he could not get to Jesus one way, he
thought of a plan to see Him in another way. Zacchaeus had no way of knowing
that Jesus would stop by his spot and invite himself to His home, but he was
all too willing to host the Messiah. The people thought that they were better
than Zacchaeus and could not understand why Jesus would associate with such
company. Nevertheless, Jesus had not come to save the righteous but to bring
sinners to repentance. Because of Jesus’
care for him, Zacchaeus turned his life around and quadrupled what he had taken
from others in his restitution to them. Jesus did not look at his former life
to hold it against him, but He looked at the man who decided to change.
Many of us have had a spotted past.
Yet, Jesus took hold of us and gave us a bright future. We were probably just as
dirty in sin if not more than Zacchaeus was. Some people’s sins may have been
done in private, while others were made public, but we all have sinned and
fallen short of God’s glory. Therefore, can God change anyone? Of course, He can
if they will humble themselves before Him. No matter how awful of a life we
have lived, Jesus can change us from the inside out. It’s not about what you
used to do, but what are you’re going to do when it comes to Christ. The Bible
says: “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). In
knowing this, we must also show this same grace and mercy to others. Too many
Christians are quick to judge the lost, but we must be careful not to think
that we are plucking tares when indeed they may be wheat. Jesus said: “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will
tell the reapers, “Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be
burned, but gather the wheat into my barn: (Matthew 13:30). Something to ponder…..
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