August 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31

August 1

Arrows of the Almighty

Know Your Strengths

 

"And Zacchaeus stood, and said unto the Lord; Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold." (Luke 19:8)

  Zacchaeus was rich but Jesus made no demands for him to give away all his goods to the poor as He had done with the rich young ruler. Obviously, Zacchaeus had already turned his trust to the Lord and repented.  His actions had shown that money was no longer his god.  Apparently he had gone beyond the requirements of restitution in the Mosaic law by offering to give half of his goods to the poor and repay fourfold for his theft!

  These Publicans were hated by their fellow Jews.  They were especially despised by the religious Jews as the epitome of sinners and Jewish religious laws prevented devout Jews from keeping company with any publican.  To eat with a publican was unthinkable as the Jews considered this actually partaking of the publican's sins.  So, you can see why others reacted so adversely to Jesus’ eating with Zacchaeus.  Jesus had no intention of going to Zacchaeus' house for a meal in order to participate in his sin but, rather, to extend mercy and forgiveness to him.

 

This is always the criteria by which we can judge whether or not we should be involved in a certain situation.  We must not participate in other men's sins, but the Lord doesn't want us to retreat into monasteries either.  We are the salt of the earth (Mt. 5:13), and to do any good, we have to get out of the "salt shaker."

 

If we can be in control and minister the love of God, then we are right to associate with sinners.  But when you or I are being controlled by the ungodliness of others, we either need to take control of the situation or know it is beyond our control and withdraw.  God knows that there are many situations which we cannot handle; we must simply turn away and refuse to get caught up in those situations which we know are beyond our strength.

 

You cannot be a witness to the love and forgiveness of God when you have a check in your spirit.  The Spirit of God knows your strengths and weaknesses.  Listen and be obedient.  It is always the Spirit of God that convicts of sin and draws people to Jesus!

 

“Lord, grant me wisdom for I am not as wise as I should be.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”