A Wee Little Man and a Great Big Question
Below is an encounter Jesus had with Zacchaeus. As I read it today, I thought about all the other "Zacchaeus people" I've known over the years. I've tried to put myself in the shoes of one of his neighbors. Maybe you can too.
Then Jesus entered and walked through Jericho. 2There was a man there, his name Zacchaeus, the head tax man and quite rich. 3He wanted desperately to see Jesus, but the crowd was in his way--he was a short man and couldn't see over the crowd. 4So he ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by.When Jesus got to the tree, he looked up and said, "Zacchaeus, hurry down. Today is my day to be a guest in your home."
Zacchaeus would have been someone who lived down the street from us. We worked hard, paid our bills, tried to raise our kids the right way, and went to church. We were good people. But people like Zacchaeus - we couldn't understand them - or really, what God was up to.
While we were doing all the right things, Zacchaeus wasn't. But far from being punished by God, he prospered. Even when we had to scrape by to make ends meet, or borrow money to pay our taxes, Zacchaeus had money. He had it all it seemed, and that made it harder.
6Zacchaeus scrambled out of the tree, hardly believing his good luck, delighted to take Jesus home with him. 7Everyone who saw the incident was indignant and grumped, "What business does he have getting cozy with this crook?"
"That's right!", we would have said. "Who does he think he is? Doesn't he know who he's getting mixed up with? He should be spending his time with us church folks." After all, that's what a rabbi is supposed to do.
But instead, Jesus not only noticed that the guy everyone thought had it all was empty inside, but he made Zacchaeus feel something he hadn't felt for a long time - love. You see Zacchaeus had been playing the game too. If he couldn't be respected, if he couldn't be loved for who he was, he'd be feared for how much he owned and what his power could do. It had been a long time since he'd let his guard down for a moment. But this man... Jesus made him remember how it felt not to measure his life by coins and gold and silver bars. Jesus stood there in a simple robe, and was everything Zacchaeus in his rich silks and gold jewelry wanted to be.
8Zacchaeus just stood there, a little stunned. He stammered apologetically, "Master, I give away half my income to the poor--and if I'm caught cheating, I pay four times the damages." 9Jesus said, "Today is salvation day in this home! Here he is: Zacchaeus, son of Abraham! 10For the Son of Man came to find and restore the lost."
Now the Great Big Question - would you have loved Zacchaeus?
Could you have seen past the riches to the bankrupt soul?
Whatever means or method you use to share your faith must begin with love. It is that "Jesus-love" that will cause you to look for people like Zacchaeus, and it is that "Jesus-love" that will help you look past their present to their Christ-following future.
Take a look around your neighborhood.
Grace!
David
This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Friday, January 07, 2005
Who Do You See?
Macon, GA - sometime in the mid 1960's. Vietnam is only beginning to be a household word, civil rights aren't right and in a few short years the fight for them won't be very civil. My mom is busy on a Saturday morning, returning Christmas presents. Since this is pre-mall era, we are downtown on the corner of Cherry and First streets - in other words, on the busiest corner in town.
My brother and I come to a proper halt beside our mother as we wait for the light to change. Something causes me to look to my right, and there I see an older black man, sitting, and strumming a beat up guitar. He's wearing a suit jacket, a pork-pie hat, and as he sings, he rolls his head side to side. In front of him sits a tin cup.
I turn to my mother and ask her, "who is that man?"
She immediately grabs our hands and walks us over to "Blind Willie", fishes in her cavernous purse, and produces a five dollar bill, which she places in his cup. Then she says to the man, "Willie, these are my boys, David and Bruce. They noticed your playing and wanted to meet you." He had stopped playing, and now his hand extended outward, unsure as to where to reach, but reaching nonetheless. "Pleased to meet you boys."
We shook his hand. It was warm and smooth and rough at the same time.
Then we went on our way.
In later years, we would see him again and again, and my mother never failed to greet him, and to give something, even if coins were all she had.
I thought about Willie today for the first time in a long while. And I wondered how long he had been there before I noticed.
Reading the gospels this week, what Clarence Jordan described as Jesus' doin's, I was stuck over and over again by how often he noticed people that others did not - and not only noticed them, but gave them respect.
Have you ever noticed this passage?
Not long afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby cities and villages to announce the Good News concerning the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, along with some women he had healed and from whom he had cast out evil spirits. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples. Luke 8:1-3 (NLT)
Luke names several women as members of Jesus' traveling group, and then he writes "and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples."
When "credit" is given for what happens in a church, often it is the most visible who receive it. Most often it is the pastor, sometimes the teachers, or worship leaders, or perhaps a deacon. They are visible - obvious even - but what about those not named, those "many others?"
I'm here today to say thank you.
Thank you for giving to the Lord to support children's ministry, even though your children are grown.
Thank you for supporting the work of your staff, even though they preach from the wrong version and sing the wrong music.
Thank you for digging deep, way past your tithe, time and again, to help your church continue to reach out to people for Jesus' sake.
Thank you for bringing coffee, or paper towels, or crayons, or a hundred other items to church, and never caring whether anyone knew or not.
Thank you for cleaning, and mowing, and painting, and another hundred other things you did though no one saw you do it.
Jesus saw you, and I thank you.
You know, sometimes we have to be taught to see -to know that it is not about us. Look around you and see who has been a help or an inspiration to you and let them know how much you appreciate it.
Grace!
David
This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.
Macon, GA - sometime in the mid 1960's. Vietnam is only beginning to be a household word, civil rights aren't right and in a few short years the fight for them won't be very civil. My mom is busy on a Saturday morning, returning Christmas presents. Since this is pre-mall era, we are downtown on the corner of Cherry and First streets - in other words, on the busiest corner in town.
My brother and I come to a proper halt beside our mother as we wait for the light to change. Something causes me to look to my right, and there I see an older black man, sitting, and strumming a beat up guitar. He's wearing a suit jacket, a pork-pie hat, and as he sings, he rolls his head side to side. In front of him sits a tin cup.
I turn to my mother and ask her, "who is that man?"
She immediately grabs our hands and walks us over to "Blind Willie", fishes in her cavernous purse, and produces a five dollar bill, which she places in his cup. Then she says to the man, "Willie, these are my boys, David and Bruce. They noticed your playing and wanted to meet you." He had stopped playing, and now his hand extended outward, unsure as to where to reach, but reaching nonetheless. "Pleased to meet you boys."
We shook his hand. It was warm and smooth and rough at the same time.
Then we went on our way.
In later years, we would see him again and again, and my mother never failed to greet him, and to give something, even if coins were all she had.
I thought about Willie today for the first time in a long while. And I wondered how long he had been there before I noticed.
Reading the gospels this week, what Clarence Jordan described as Jesus' doin's, I was stuck over and over again by how often he noticed people that others did not - and not only noticed them, but gave them respect.
Have you ever noticed this passage?
Not long afterward Jesus began a tour of the nearby cities and villages to announce the Good News concerning the Kingdom of God. He took his twelve disciples with him, along with some women he had healed and from whom he had cast out evil spirits. Among them were Mary Magdalene, from whom he had cast out seven demons; Joanna, the wife of Chuza, Herod's business manager; Susanna; and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples. Luke 8:1-3 (NLT)
Luke names several women as members of Jesus' traveling group, and then he writes "and many others who were contributing from their own resources to support Jesus and his disciples."
When "credit" is given for what happens in a church, often it is the most visible who receive it. Most often it is the pastor, sometimes the teachers, or worship leaders, or perhaps a deacon. They are visible - obvious even - but what about those not named, those "many others?"
I'm here today to say thank you.
Thank you for giving to the Lord to support children's ministry, even though your children are grown.
Thank you for supporting the work of your staff, even though they preach from the wrong version and sing the wrong music.
Thank you for digging deep, way past your tithe, time and again, to help your church continue to reach out to people for Jesus' sake.
Thank you for bringing coffee, or paper towels, or crayons, or a hundred other items to church, and never caring whether anyone knew or not.
Thank you for cleaning, and mowing, and painting, and another hundred other things you did though no one saw you do it.
Jesus saw you, and I thank you.
You know, sometimes we have to be taught to see -to know that it is not about us. Look around you and see who has been a help or an inspiration to you and let them know how much you appreciate it.
Grace!
David
This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.
Monday, January 03, 2005
Aha!
"If any of you wants to be my follower," he told them, "you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me.35 If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life. Mark 8:35 (NLT)
They call them aha moments.
Maybe you've had one too.
I remember reading about Hank Aaron,who grew up just west of me in Mobile, AL. Seems when Hank was a little boy, he picked up a baseball bat. (And the rest is history... yes, I know... don't jump ahead of me.)
He picked up the bat and put his right hand at the bottom and the left hand on top. Then he proceeded to learn to hit the baseball far and often. But not as far as he did when one day a coach convinced him to try the more conventional way of left hand on the bottom, right hand on top. Aha! (Okay, now you can say "and the rest is history.")
Today, I was explaining to a little girl about Jesus and His love for her. Haylee is a bundle of energy wrapped in a determined little girl. She's a red haired, freckled example of the kind of work God does when He wants to show us just what kids are supposed to look like. And Haylee wanted to know Jesus "in her heart."
So my wife, (the incredible Miss Bunny) and I made plans to meet with Haylee and her mom this afternoon and try to explain the mysteries of God. I was well into that explanation (after Bunny had laid the groundwork), when I looked down at Haylee and she looked up at me, and I worried for a second that in spite of all the efforts our family of faith had done or would do, Haylee might not understand what it meant to follow Jesus.
So I asked her if she loved Him.
She said yes.
Friends, it was as if a flashbulb illuminated my soul. Aha!
We need to teach people how to fall in love with Jesus, and help them learn what will help them make their love for Him grow!
Maybe it's just me, but it seems that far too much of what we do in our gatherings is rehash the same facts we've known for years, and rarely if ever speak of our love relationship with Jesus. The danger in that, is we wind up knowing an awful lot of Bible, but miss the author, or if we do meet Him, we regard Him as one would a learned professor, rather than someone whose passion caused Him to die well before we ever even noticed He existed.
Then we give people guidelines on what to do each day - how much to read, how long to pray, what to listen to. We teach them self-discipline. Well, I'm pretty disciplined, but I fall off the exercise wagon regularly, because I don't like to exercise - I just know it's good for me.
But love - love will make you want to do whatever it takes to make the object of your affection happy. You want to give them joy. So you forget about yourself, and every day you do whatever it takes - go wherever you need to go.
" 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.'
Can you do that?
If you can, then following Christ will be as natural as breathing. And the pressure, the guilt, the anxiety - will be gone forever.
It's called,
Grace!
David
This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.
"If any of you wants to be my follower," he told them, "you must put aside your selfish ambition, shoulder your cross, and follow me.35 If you try to keep your life for yourself, you will lose it. But if you give up your life for my sake and for the sake of the Good News, you will find true life. Mark 8:35 (NLT)
They call them aha moments.
Maybe you've had one too.
I remember reading about Hank Aaron,who grew up just west of me in Mobile, AL. Seems when Hank was a little boy, he picked up a baseball bat. (And the rest is history... yes, I know... don't jump ahead of me.)
He picked up the bat and put his right hand at the bottom and the left hand on top. Then he proceeded to learn to hit the baseball far and often. But not as far as he did when one day a coach convinced him to try the more conventional way of left hand on the bottom, right hand on top. Aha! (Okay, now you can say "and the rest is history.")
Today, I was explaining to a little girl about Jesus and His love for her. Haylee is a bundle of energy wrapped in a determined little girl. She's a red haired, freckled example of the kind of work God does when He wants to show us just what kids are supposed to look like. And Haylee wanted to know Jesus "in her heart."
So my wife, (the incredible Miss Bunny) and I made plans to meet with Haylee and her mom this afternoon and try to explain the mysteries of God. I was well into that explanation (after Bunny had laid the groundwork), when I looked down at Haylee and she looked up at me, and I worried for a second that in spite of all the efforts our family of faith had done or would do, Haylee might not understand what it meant to follow Jesus.
So I asked her if she loved Him.
She said yes.
Friends, it was as if a flashbulb illuminated my soul. Aha!
We need to teach people how to fall in love with Jesus, and help them learn what will help them make their love for Him grow!
Maybe it's just me, but it seems that far too much of what we do in our gatherings is rehash the same facts we've known for years, and rarely if ever speak of our love relationship with Jesus. The danger in that, is we wind up knowing an awful lot of Bible, but miss the author, or if we do meet Him, we regard Him as one would a learned professor, rather than someone whose passion caused Him to die well before we ever even noticed He existed.
Then we give people guidelines on what to do each day - how much to read, how long to pray, what to listen to. We teach them self-discipline. Well, I'm pretty disciplined, but I fall off the exercise wagon regularly, because I don't like to exercise - I just know it's good for me.
But love - love will make you want to do whatever it takes to make the object of your affection happy. You want to give them joy. So you forget about yourself, and every day you do whatever it takes - go wherever you need to go.
" 'You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.'
Can you do that?
If you can, then following Christ will be as natural as breathing. And the pressure, the guilt, the anxiety - will be gone forever.
It's called,
Grace!
David
This devotional is written by David Wilson, pastor of New Hope Baptist church in Valparaiso, FL. If you find you have received this via a forward and would like to receive it regularly, or find you no longer wish to receive it, drop me an email at dwilsonfl@earthlink.net and I'll make the change to the list. If you'd like to know more about New Hope, visit our website at www.newhopevalp.org . May God bless you.
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