The Ball is in Your Court!

I have been reading through the book of Luke and I came to chapter 19 this morning. We find a well known Bible character here named Zacchaeus. 

Luke 19:1-10 (ESV):

"He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.” 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.”

Going back to about a week ago, I was facing battles left and right of overwhelming thoughts and realizations of my short comings and flaws in my character. The battle in the mind is the most common battle man-kind faces daily. Once we see and think about something, it doesn't take long and is very easy for the wheels to start turning. Once they start it can be a very hard thing to stop. 

Going back to the life of Zacchaeus, he rich man (tax collector). Most men despised tax collectors because many collectors stole money from the people they collected from. As you read earlier, Zacchaeus heard that a man called Jesus was passing through Jericho; so he ran to go and see Him. Little did Zacchaeus know that that day was going to be one of the momentous day's of his life. Jesus came to Him and brought to Zacchaeus two gifts: the gift of repentance (a changing in the mind) and the gift of conversion (the turning around and changing of ones action(s). 

Many people believe that repentance and conversion are a one time thing, but it is to be a repeated occurrence. When we accept Jesus Christ into our hearts and proclaim Him as our Savior, that is not the end. When we are saved, that does not mean that everything is alright in our lives and that everything is covered by God's grace. We are not saved forever, but we can lose our salvation. Many believe too that we are no longer under the law, but under grace. That is false! We are under the law because the law is what reveals to us our bondage's (sin) and short comings. We need a change in our minds and in our actions. 

Thinking about Zacchaeus I also thought about the rich young ruler found in Matthew 19:16-22 (NKJV):

"Now behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?" So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." He said to Him, “Which ones?” Jesus said, “‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,' and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept from my youth. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions."

We see here a man who is also rich, like Zacchaeus, but he is one that God already knows. He knew Jesus and Jesus knew him. However, there is one difference between these two men that make, what I see as a life impacting decision. Zacchaeus was despised by many and saw unfit to have Jesus come visit him, but Jesus came and Zacchaeus accepted the gift of repentance. We see proof of this because he repaid the money and interest to all the people that he stole from. He changed his mind and direction. Now, this rich young ruler knew the Lord and yet when he was instructed, by the Lord, to sell all he had and follow Christ, he did not. The young ruler was sorrowful and did NOT change his mind or actions.

I am not trying to be hard on the rich young ruler. In-fact I am contrasting these two lives because we all are capable of being like these two men. Doing things daily that we don't recognize or think of them as being wrong or something that is holding us back from getting closer to God. The difference between these two men is that, one accepted the two gifts God brought to him and the other did not. 

Going back to my week ago battle in the mind. I shared that with you because we all have, are, and will struggle with our flaws and short comings in our minds. However, if we just dwell on them, we will go nowhere. Here are two men who had flaws and they didn't even know it, but only one of the two responded correctly. When we see a flaw in our character, then pray that God would grant you a change in mind (repentance) and give you His grace to change your actions (conversion). I will not tell you that it will be easy and instantly you will be able to change your actions because that is not true (for most cases). It will take time, but as you take that one step God will take steps too. 

The ball is in your court and now will you choose to walk away sorrowful? or will you take that step of change and throw that ball back into God's court for Him to take the next step? The choice is yours...

God bless!