This is the 31st
and final post as I have attempted to visit everything
(pretty much!) Jesus said about money in the gospels over 2 weeks. I hope you
have found this helpful, I certainly have!
This is a wonderful story of Jesus’ mercy.
It teaches us that a new relationship with money is a great indicator of a new
relationship with God.
‘Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. A man was there by the
name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. He wanted to
see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So
he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming
that way.
When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus,
come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at
once and welcomed him gladly.
All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the
guest of a sinner.”
But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I
give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of
anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this
man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the
lost.”’ (Luke 19:1-9)
Jesus loves to be ‘the guest of a sinner’; He has
come to ‘seek and to save the lost’.
Jesus is inviting himself into your home today; do you want Him to enter?
Don’t say “yes” glibly! His entrance demands
change, do we want to change?
Do we want Him to shine a light on the shadows of our lives and our finances?
If people knew your heart and my heart they would
‘mutter’ “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
Everyone needs heart transformation by Jesus. A new
relationship with money is a great indicator that his new relationship with
God has begun.
A Randy Alcorn has written,
‘Just as Jesus gauged
Zacchaeus’s true spiritual condition by his willingness to part with his money,
so he gauged the rich young ruler’s true spiritual condition by his
unwillingness to part with his money. Jesus sees our hearts and souls and he
knows us just as well as he knew those two men. He will call us to take action
that breaks our bondage to money and possessions and frees us to live under his
exclusive lordship. The principle is timeless: There is a powerful relationship
between our true spiritual condition and our attitude and actions concerning
money and possessions.’ (Possessions and Eternity)
Take a moment to ask God to search you:
This post brings this series to a close; If we haven’t been
challenged by Jesus on money, we haven’t been listening! If we have made
Jesus Lord and Saviour, let's let Him have His way in this area of our lives. I
pray that the Holy Spirit will release us to ‘excel in the grace of giving’ (2
Corinthians 8:7).
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