Facing The Giants

Today’s Bible readings are Joshua 16:1-18:28, Luke 19:1-27, Psalm 87:1-7, & Proverbs 13:11

Luke 19:1-10

Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. ² There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. ³ He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.

⁵ When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”

⁶ Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. ⁷ But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.

⁸ Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”

⁹ Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

How do we make a wrong right? That is great question. We all know what it is to do wrong. We make mistakes on a regular basis. Why is it that some people continue to make the same mistakes time & time again?

I have made many mistakes in life. I know what it is to experience failure as a result of my own bad choices. I learned a valuable lesson when I was in my early 20’s that changed my life. It took me from a place of making the same mistake over & over to a place where I learned from my mistakes & moved on.

I know how frustrating it is when things don’t go well. I also know how much more frustrating it is to go through the same problems over & over again. I have seen people who have to move every 3 or 4 months because of problems. I have seen people who have to find a new job every few months because they can’t keep a job. I have seen people go through relationships because they don’t know how to treat one another.

I am a person who has experienced many of those same things myself, but I give praise to Jesus because I don’t have to experience them anymore. The answer to finding freedom from those bad choices was me accepting responsibility for the poor choices that I had made.

It is so easy to blame others for the misfortunes that happen in life. It was somebody else’s fault:

1.      That my utilities got shut off.

2.      That I couldn’t pay my rent.

3.      That I couldn’t come to work.

4.      That we couldn’t get along.

This is the way that I use to think. Thinking this way continued to produce that same types of problems in my life. I remember the moment when I finally came to my senses. I realized that it was my own actions that had produced the things that I was experiencing. This was a great day because with that I also realized that there was hope if I could find a way to change my actions. I realized that different actions would produce different outcomes.

I believe that is what true repentance is. We see it perfectly in the life of Zacchaeus. He was a man who had made many bad choices. But the interesting thing to me is that once He realized it, he chose to make things right.

⁸ Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”

⁹ Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. ¹⁰ For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

He accepted responsibility for his actions. He took it one step further & chose to make amends with any that he had wronged. This is where transformation occurs. It is this key thing that leads to change. This is the proof of a genuine changed of heart. In fact, Jesus said that this action proved that Zacchaeus was a true son of Abraham.

Christians don’t make excuses for their poor behaviors & their poor choices. We accept responsibility for our actions. This is what leads us to a life of victory. It is what I call, “facing the giants.” We will never conquer what we are afraid to face.

If you want to find victory over the chaos of your life, then you have to take the same route. We MUST be people of humility & integrity. We have to accept responsibility, then, come to Jesus for grace to rise above.  Jesus wants to help us, but we must be honest about things. Honesty really does lead us to a place of truth.

Pastor Richard Schlotter