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Whenever humans are going through difficult times, they should realize that God is always ready to rescue them from their predicaments. However, humans have short memories; they soon forget how bad things were for them before God's rescue. Therefore, instead of moving closer to God, they perceive a smaller problem as being bigger than the ones from which God had saved them. God is always faithful, and He never changes at all. He expects all to put their trust in Him since He is able and eager to solve human problems according to His will. The Lord is great, and so is His faithfulness. God demonstrated His great love to all humans that he allowed His son to be sacrificed to save them all. Christ gave so much importance to human life that He gave His own life to save theirs. Therefore, there should be nothing to hold humans back from doing His will or from achieving the best that God has in store for all.
Response is the backbone of all human relationships to situations and issues, to other humans, and to God. Humans face several issues daily requiring a variety of response. However, the type or the manner of response depend on the individual and the situations. Those responses may vary from positive to negative, accommodation to rejection, love to hate, friendship to enmity, understanding to indifferences, forgiveness to revenge, being humane to being no-humane, giving "benefits of the doubt" to giving no allowance to other possibilities, and other shades of responses which one could imagine. However, the Bible is emphatic in saying that "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come" (2 Corinthians 5:17, NASB). With this statement God expects Christians to become new after accepting Christ, the old ways to behavior are old and just as an old cloth is disregarded old behavior must be discarded which include a way of responding to issues/situations before one becomes a Christian. Human responses to issues are old, inadequate, and Christ's way of response should be allowed to take over.When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and listened to the devil it was not that their sins were so bad that God could not forgive them, but their responses were of giving excuses instead of asking for forgiveness. Therefore, they were thrown out of their comfort zone in the garden of Eden. When God requested Pharaoh to let the Israelites go out of bondage which he put them Pharaoh responded in defiance which resulted in his death and the death of the Egyptians who followed him. When Abraham responded positively to God, God blessed him and his generation after him. Responses to issues between humans could either enhance or destroy relationships. Many families', friendships', associates' relations have been improved or destroyed due to the responses to each other of those involved. God is asking humans to respond to Him and Jesus is ever present to receive human responses. Jesus even surrendered His life for humans as the only true path to God. God in Jesus and the Holy Spirit waiting and calling you-sinners to come. Your response to God's calling will determine where you will spend eternity, either with God in peace or the devil in turmoil.
The Jewish people were under Roman rule after being conquered in several wars. The Jewish people were burdened by several forms of taxation. Although the Jewish people did not like several taxes levied on them by their conqueror, they did not have any choice but to pay them reluctantly.There were some Jewish citizens who were working for the Romans to collect taxes from their brethren and submit them to the Romans. Those Jewish citizens (tax collectors) were collecting more taxes than they were turning over to the Roman government. As a result, they got very rich financially and held important political status with the Roman government. Therefore, the Jewish people hated the tax collectors.Zacchaeus was one of the richest tax collectors, and for that reason, the Jewish people hated him so much to the point that he did not feel free to mix together with the people of his society. None of the Jews wanted to associate or do anything with him; he was isolated with no friends. Zacchaeus heard about Jesus, and he was curious of what might happen if he could have a meeting with Jesus. He felt that Jesus might understand his plight, forgive him, and turn him to the right course. However, he realized that he was a man of small stature and it would be impossible for him to see Jesus amid the crowd.Zacchaeus was resourceful, and he went ahead of the crowd to climb a sycamore tree which was divinely placed by the side of the road where Jesus was to pass. Zacchaeus climbed the sycamore tree without being sure how Jesus would respond to him. He had the faith that Jesus would accept him. When Jesus came to the sycamore tree, He called Zacchaeus to come down. The call to come down was an indication to Zacchaeus that Jesus knew his plight, that He knew his sins and his loneliness. Jesus wanted Zacchaeus to come down from the sycamore tree and leave all his worries and sins behind because He had forgiven him.Jesus was accused by the Pharisees and the scribes for being a friend to Zacchaeus. However, Jesus declared that He came to the world to save sinners like Zacchaeus.
Abonner på vårt nyhetsbrev og få rabatter og inspirasjon til din neste leseopplevelse.
Ved å abonnere godtar du vår personvernerklæring.