Bible promises – Broken Believers

The Art of Being Seen

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

⁵When 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.” ⁶Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. ⁷But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.

⁸Meanwhile, 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!” ⁹Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. ¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”

Luke 19:1-10, NLT

Zacchaeus was a resourceful man. Jericho was a prime toll center in the entire area, and Zacchaeus would’ve been the richest man in the entire region. He was very wealthy, being an overseer of other tax collectors (the region with a major export of balsa wood.) He was well on his way to becoming a millionaire at least, the ancient Judean version of it.

We should know two things about Zacchaeus:

His Hebrew name meant “pure.” This was an ironic moniker for a despised man who had sold out to the Roman tax business. (Perhaps he had had a ‘godly mother?)
He was very short in stature. I suppose we could call him ‘vertically challenged’?

I suppose there is one other thing, my guess is it’s the main one. He simply wanted to see Jesus. He was so short that he couldn’t see over the crowds. Perhaps he could’ve bribed his way to the curb, but apparently, there wasn’t enough time. Jesus was coming this way! He must make a decision.

He looks and sees a tree. It grew on the side of the road, its branches hanging over the well-traveled path. He clumsily climbs up (in a robe!) and finds a clear spot to get a good look at Jesus. He is a simple man, and this is all he wants is just to see Jesus!

Within the Christian faith over the many centuries, there has always been a heart’s desire to get closer to Jesus. Many of the established ‘disciplines’ such as:

prayer
the study of scripture
fasting
evangelism
simplicity
solitude
service
confession
worship

Think of this list as simply branches of the tree.

Each discipline comes as one of several. But they are futile, or worse if they don’t lead us to Jesus Christ.

It is critical to grasp the end result; they are merely the methods we use to see Jesus clearer. Its folly to climb the tree, just for the sake of climbing. No. The branch we are sitting on is just a means to an end. To behold our Lord, to somehow get closer to Him is priceless.

For example, I usually don’t pray for ‘prayers sake.’ I must pray like Zacchaeus climbed; I just to see Jesus. I know He is always watching and yet I want Him to see me.

But we also are not to build tree houses. Rather we’re meant to see Jesus, come down, and have a wonderful time with Him in close fellowship.

Repeat Offenders

“Father, every family has a rascal someone who breaks the rules a juvenile delinquent of untold frustrations and sleepless nights a repeated offender and bearer of sad woe the problem child who needs the most discipline.

Is this why you love me most persistently? When you correct me, is it because I’m the one most contrary?

Or is it that you love me so much?”

I wrote this thinking about Hebrews 12 and God’s purpose of chastening. I don’t pretend to understand this dynamic completely–all I can say is that my childhood was punctuated by much difficulty. But now, as a father (my two children are now grown), fatherhood has become far easier than my dad had with me.

^{7 “}As you endure this divine discipline, remember that God is treating you as his own children. Who ever heard of a child who is never disciplined by its father? ¹⁰For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how.“

“But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. ¹¹No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way.”

Hebrews 12:7, 10-11

I really think we understand our Heavenly Father when we spend quality time with Hebrews 12. We are given insight into His care and into our own issues. It is a good thing He gives us— it enriches our spiritual lives.

It’s never nice to be corrected.

It’s not pleasant. Part of being corrected is being reminded that we’re not as righteous as we think we are. To be corrected strikes us to a reprimand, an admonition that something isn’t right inside of us.

The Father corrects His children–in many ways through a myriad of circumstances. He loves us far too much to allow us to continue in our sin. He’s making us into the image of Christ.

We should welcome His correction. He has a plan for you.

When He disciplines you, it only proves that He is your Father. It’s critical to remember: God’s correction is always for our good. It may be painful yes, but it comes with real hope. It’s not to harm or punish you.

“Father, I’m so sorry that I grieve you as often as I do. I promise to behave. Thank you for being a faithful Father who cares deeply for my soul. Amen.”

“Look upon your chastening as God’s chariots sent to carry your soul into the high places of spiritual achievement.”

Hannah Whitall Smith.

Please check-out my other site: alaskabibleteacher.com.

Esteeming His Word

Quite often, we’re intimidated by the Bible. We all can take on a verse or two. But that is pretty much it.

There is always more, much more.

The Bible isn’t made up of singular verses, but of whole books. I intend to go on record, to encourage you to ingest the Word. It’s as if we went to a Chinese restaurant buffet. There is so many delicious choices. But we load up exclusively on the “Kung Pao Chicken.” We make many trips, but that is all we take. Only the Kung Pao, and that’s it.

Have we really experienced this restaurant? Or just the chicken? The Word is extensively diverse. There are recipes, and there are heaping and steaming platters of things we will never personally experience, and that is a shame. So much is there, but we pick out just one thing.

I have been listening to the book of Luke. Repeatedly.

It really humbles me, and I sense I’ve been sliced open and my innards have been drug out into the streets. It has spiritually eviscerated me. It has opened me up, with a spiritual power. (I’m sorry, but “Moby Dick” or “Great Expectations” or other works of classical literature does nothing comparable for me.)

God’s Word has a peculiar dimension to it.

What it does is spiritually forceful. It eagerly waits for us–this leather backed book. At random we pick it up and start to read. Quite quickly, it slips through our issues, and it directly ministers to us. It has such power that it enters our thinking, and detonates, when the time is right. And we are left to pick-up the pieces. (This is good.)

You see, His presence has thoroughly saturated His Word. He comes and infuses His books. They have been dipped in His very personality and brought out for us to read and handle. The things we discover there develop an awareness of truth and what is real.

If you study, you will hear the voice of God.

And yet you have not arrived. There is still a substantial work to be done. You desperately need God’s words. And you don’t need to become proficient or educated. Perhaps we should just strive to be holy and kind. Even an unorthodox approach is better than none. Please–put down the remote, take up your heart, and apply it to your Bible. It won’t take long, but the work is eternal.

“The Bible is alive; it speaks to me. It has feet; it runs after me. It has hands; it lays hold of me!”

— Martin Luther

We Need More Towels

washing-feet — There are no shortcuts in discipleship

^“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, ⁴rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.”

John 13:3-4, ESV

He was always a servant. Nothing could erode His place or position. The authority had been His Father’s, and it had been given to Him. He carried it as a special burden, treasured and separating Him. Jesus had the freedom to act like the servant. But it didn’t bother or confuse Him, He understood perfectly who He was.

Unlike us.

With the supreme authority given to him, He got down on His knees, and began to wash dirty feet. I can offer no magic or flair to adjust this scene. All He did was to wash off dirt, He cleaned between toes, making filthy feet clean. And all of this ‘as God in human flesh’. This staggered the disciples.

Perhaps a baseball bat on the side of the head would’ve been more preferable.

You see, this was revolutionary, it completely devastated the disciples. They just couldn’t grasp what was happening. Jesus, who was ‘God in flesh’, had decided, in a moment of time, to clean their feet. Outrageous! Not really happening! No way! Never!

Essentially, it buried them. Jesus Christ, as Servant pounded them into the ground. Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs Jesus. Becoming an indentured slave was now the way of Christlikeness. This servanthood was to now guide us to a point of slavery.

Gone are the days of Zebedee when one can ask for a position, on the right or the left. We can ask, most certainly, but we haven’t been the first.

So very many have gone before us. We must become a people who accept and then press into His grace, seeing His supreme beauty, and walk in His presence. Becoming like Jesus, the servant/slave.

Today, the Church needs more towels.

We have got to renounce out ‘need’ for recognition and pick up from the pile the rag of servanthood. We must ‘ask’ our brother/sister if we can “scrub” their feet. We must get on our knees and do the disgusting, (and yet exalting)

We must find a way to clean off their feet. This dear one, is what you’ve been told to do.

“Wherever a man turns he can find someone who needs him.”

Albert Schweitzer