We Respond

Thursday, June 22, 2017

Luke 19:8:  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.”

When God speaks, we respond. And the responses can be, 1) Yes, 2) No, and 3) I'm not sure. Zacchaeus' response was in the "Yes" group.

As we think about it, Zacchaeus was confronted by the presence of Jesus right there in his house. Jesus didn't have to say, "You're a sinner and you need to repent." The simple presence of Jesus "said" that. And Zacchaeus' response of action said, "Lord, I know that I have cheated people out of their hard earned money. I have stolen from people and lined my pockets with the overage. I know that is wrong and I repent of those sins and I will make restitution."

We respond in similar ways to the presence of Jesus in our house. Yes, Jesus is in our house. Our house is BOTH the place where we live AND the place where we worship. At the places where we live, we respond to the presence of Jesus there by loving our spouses and children and by doing the things that show God's love. We respond to the presence of Jesus in our place of worship through the words of confession and absolution, the prayer and praises, and the receiving of Jesus' body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins. God, lead us to respond more fully with YES!