Hello everyone,
Today I want to share a message that it was preached this morning at church. It was very strong and it can be apply to all our lives regardless of what title you may hold..
The message was about sharing your faith regardless of what people might say or think. It was showed to us through the story of Zacchaeus. (Luke 19)
"Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way."
Now after reading these verses, we can see that Zacchaeus was a very important man. He definitely had a reputation to hold, after all he was the chief tax collector and very rich. However what is very interesting was that he wanted to see Jesus. He wanted to know who He was. So he ran up a tree( because he was short) so he could see Jesus. He didn't care what people might say or think about his action. He wanted to see Jesus! Many people often want to please people so they never admit who they are. They live indecisively because they act as "Christians" at church but when it comes to share their faith with others... they feel shameful and they can't stand up for their beliefs.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
So Jesus saw Zacchaeus' desire to know who He was. As always, there are the people who will talk about others and criticize. Often enough, those people criticize others because they want to hide their faults by pointing out the faults in others. Zacchaeus didn't care and I imagine he was extremely happy because Jesus was going to his house. Gladly, Zacchaeus wasn't influenced by what those people said.
8 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.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
The verses above are my favorite from this story because Zacchaeus rendered his life to Jesus right away. Regardless of who he was, a rich important man, he broke down his pride and he recognized that how he was living his life was wrong. Zacchaeus was humble and God was able to do His work in his heart. Zacchaeus was saved because he wasn't ASHAMED to accept God and change his ways.
There will always be people who will criticize your faith and beliefs...but it is up to you to either be proud and hide it or have NO SHAME ABOUT IT.
God Bless,
Bianca
