Day 71

Today’s Reading: John 3

There are a few chapters in our 260 Journey where you just pause, exhale, and know you are seeing beauty and majesty. John 3 is one of those chapters.

Plato said, “Whoever tells the stories shapes society.” Do we have a story to tell or what? We have the story—the gospel story. God’s story.

John 3:16 is God’s story stuffed into one verse. And Jesus tells it in twenty-five words—because that’s all He needed.

If we could choose one verse of the 31,102 verses of the Bible, this one verse sums up the gospel. The word gospel means Good News.

So here’s God’s story: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

This is the most wonderful sentence ever written. It begins with God, who has no beginning, and concludes with life that has no ending.

Let’s break down the verse:

God . . . the greatest lover

but . . . the greatest difference

How did John 3:16 come to be? It was spoken to one man, Nicodemus, one night. (The original Nick at Night.)

Nicodemus was a religious man, and it seemed something was bothering him. Religion wasn’t enough.

What’s interesting is that some of the greatest verses in the Bible from Jesus’ lips happen through one-on-one conversations, not in sermons.

While Nicodemus did not ask a question to be answered, Jesus answered the question he meant to ask. He did not realize the conversation would be turned from religion to regeneration. To make sure we understand what Jesus was emphasizing that night to Nicodemus, let’s read a few verses surrounding this one so we can get a sense of the context:

So that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:15-18)

If I were to say to my children: “Dinner is great, but now it’s time to clean up. When you clean up, Mom and Dad are happy, because cleaning up means you respect our words, and when you clean up you do your part.” What is the key phrase? Clean up.

Jesus did the same thing. You have to pay attention to see it in these verses. Jesus’ key word: believe.

Belief is crucial, because it is the hinge upon which the door to heaven turns. Jesus used variations of belief five times. If you were to speak three sentences, and you included one verb five times, I would get the feeling you were stressing a highly critical point. And indeed, He was.

John 3:16 begins with God and His love, and it ends in heaven. But the one variable in the equation is this word, believes.

Believe is at the fork in the road of perish and eternal life.

God’s love gave us Christ, who died, giving us our only access to heaven. Therefore, salvation is not in question. It is there for the taking. The only thing in question is our response. Will we believe?

Pastor J. C.

Day 70

Today’s Reading: John 2

Today our 260 Journey takes us to John 2. If we are not paying attention, we may feel as if we are at the end of the Gospel of John and not at the beginning. Let me explain why this can be confusing by reading something Jesus did in this chapter:

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” (John 2:13-16)

Anything seem odd to you?

What Jesus did here is in all three Synoptic Gospels—Matthew, Mark, and Luke. But here is what makes this scene stand out: it isn’t the same thing.

Think about this, Jesus cleared the temple of the money changers and those buying and selling. He made a scourge and then declared, “My Father’s house shall be called a house of prayer.” This happens in Matthew 21, Mark 11, and Luke 19—all on Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem, which we call Palm Sunday.

But this is totally different. This is not Palm Sunday. This is the beginning of His ministry. This is John 2, not John 19.

Wow! This is huge. This is Jesus clearing the temple at the beginning of His ministry where the other gospels record Jesus clearing the temple at the end of His ministry.

What He cleaned out, three years later came back in.

Why? Junk is always trying to make its way back into the temple. That’s not just true for this New Testament temple but for another temple. In this same chapter, in verse 19, Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”—and then it goes on to say, “He was speaking of the temple of His body” (verse 21).

In other words: I am now the temple that sin and money changers are looking to get back into.

This is so true. Stuff that was driven out of my life years ago is always trying to find its way back in years later; just like those money changers were.

In I Surrender, Patrick Morley wrote that the church’s integrity problem is in the misconception “that we can add Christ to our lives, but not subtract sin. It is a change in belief without a change in behavior. . . . It is revival without reformation, without repentance.

Jesus would not let something into the temple that did not belong. I need God to come into my life each day and make a clean sweep of my personal temple, because junk always wants to come back. The same is true of you. As C. S. Lewis reminds us, “We have a strange illusion that mere time cancels sin. But mere time does nothing either to the fact or to the guilt of a sin."

How do we keep sin out? The Holy Spirit’s conviction is the scourge to make us aware, and repentance drives the money changers out. Conviction and repentance get the money changers out of our temples that are trying to get back in like old times.

Repentance is best defined by a little girl who said, “It’s to be sorry enough to quit.”

The great American evangelist, Billy Sunday, spoke about the fight against sin being a fight he would wage until he died: “Listen, I’m against sin. I’ll kick it as long as I’ve got a foot, I’ll fight it as long as I’ve got a fist, I’ll butt it as long as I’ve got a head, and I’ll bite it as long as I’ve got a tooth. And when I’m old, fistless, footless, and toothless, I’ll gum it till I go home to glory and it goes home to perdition.”

Fight sin. Let Jesus clean house. Each day you wake up, ask Jesus to go through the temple and expose anything in your life

Day 69

Today’s Reading: John 1

I am excited that today on our 260 Journey we begin a journey through the Gospel of John. This is the most unique gospel because it doesn’t start out like the other three gospels. It takes us to the beginning . . . the real beginning. Listen to its opening verse: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).

That sounds very much like Genesis 1:1 at creation: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”

Here’s what’s even crazier: the “In the beginning” of John takes place before the “In the beginning” of Genesis.

What does that mean?

This puts Jesus in a unique category as the only person who ever lived before He was born. As one theologian said, “Jesus is the invisible God and God is the visible Jesus.” And that visible Jesus was about to embark on a three-year ministry that would change the planet forever.

French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte said it with the greatest clarity: “I know men, and I tell you that Jesus Christ is not a man. Superficial minds see a resemblance between Christ and the founders of empires and the gods of other religions. That resemblance does not exist. There is between Christianity and every other religion the distance of infinity.”

Let’s start this journey through John by reading verses 37-39 and see one of the most amazing venues Jesus ever taught in: “The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus” (verse 37). It’s good to stop here and take note that the “him” in this verse is John the Baptist. We would think it should have been that John spoke and they followed John. But this is epic: “They heard him [John] speak and followed Jesus.” John, you rock. You challenge me.

The challenge and the proof of any true minister and ministry is that people hear us speak and they follow Jesus, not us, our church, our denomination.

That is why distinctives about denominations are so bogus. Distinctives about what day we worship on, what we call Jesus, our water baptism formula, our theology about the gifts. It’s so anti-New Testament. They make the organization distinct not Jesus.

Can people hear me speak and not follow my church or my denomination? Can people hear an Assembly of God pastor speak and not follow Pentecostalism or a Baptist preacher preach and not follow Calvinism? This is a challenge to twenty-first-century preaching. Thank you, John the Baptist for modeling what we should be doing.

Here is where it gets good: Jesus’ first 10:00 a.m. service. It’s a service unlike any other in history. It’s in an unexpected place but it’s in the best place:

Jesus turned and saw them following, and said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?” He said to them, “Come, and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. (verses 38-39)

They asked Jesus, “Where are You staying?” Or, “Where is Your home?” And Jesus responded, “Come and you will see.” “Come to My home,” they came, and they had the first home group. The first Christian 10:00 a.m. service would take place where Jesus resided.

There is something about teaching and learning in a home. They went that day to where Jesus was staying and had no idea how that 10:00 a.m. service would impact their “forever.”

The home of Jesus. Wow! It’s one thing to learn from a pulpit and in a pew, it’s another level to learn from a classroom and a lecture. But the playing field changes when you learn in a home—and it beats all other venues.

Jesus’ first place of teaching wasn’t the synagogue, it was the home. When the home is involved, you are inviting people up close for them to see if what you have is real. Anyone can put on

Day 68

Today’s Reading: Luke 24

It’s resurrection morning for Jesus. All of the Gospels highlight Jesus’ post-resurrection conversations with His disciples and followers, but only Luke highlights a conversation that happened seven miles outside of Jerusalem. To put it another way, a fire started seven miles outside of Jerusalem.

No building burst into flames.

No property was damaged.

No one was trapped.

No life was lost.

But two hearts caught on fire in a conversation with the resurrected Jesus. As someone once said, “Get on fire for God and men will come watch you burn.”

Fire needs no advertisement. When people hear the fire engines, people look for smoke. And seven miles outside of Jerusalem on a road heading toward Emmaus two hearts caught fire.

Let’s look at the story.

Two of them were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus Himself approached and began traveling with them. But their eyes were prevented from recognizing Him. And He said to them, “What are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking?” . . . And they said to Him, “The things about Jesus the Nazarene, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to the sentence of death, and crucified Him. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened.”

He said to them, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?” Then beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures. . .

They urged him, saying, “Stay with us, for it is getting toward evening, and the day is now nearly over.” So He went in to stay with them. When He had reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it, and breaking it, He began giving it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him, and He vanished from their sight. They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” And they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered together the eleven and those who were with them, saying, “The Lord has really risen and has appeared to Simon.” (Luke 24:13-17, 19-21, 25-27, 29-34)

I have been reading a sermon a day for almost thirty years. It’s a practice I picked up when I started pastoring. One of my favorite preachers is the great Baptist, Vance Havner. In one of his sermons based on this story, Havner gives four characteristics that happen to someone who has a genuine experience with God.

First, their experience is based on the Scriptures. As Luke 24:27 tells us, “He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” Men who part company with the Old Testament also part company with Jesus. Moses wrote Genesis. Jesus promoted Genesis.

Second, it stirs their hearts. Luke 24:32: They said to one another, “Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?” A genuine experience with God has its foundation in the Bible, not in our feelings, although that does not mean our feelings aren’t affected. We are not saved because we feel saved, but being saved makes us happy. As Havner said, “There was never a real revival that did not produce heartburn and hallelujahs."

Third, Je

Day 67

Today’s Reading: Luke 23

Today we come to the last solemn minutes of Jesus’ life on the cross. It is His final comment from the cross that catches my attention. It is a prayer but goes further than up. That prayer goes wide.

Let’s read Jesus’ final words before He breathed His last breath:

Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit." When he had said this, he breathed his last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” (Luke 23:46-47, NIV)

What a scene! Jesus was dying and this was His final sentence on earth before He was the resurrected Lord. He said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Then He simply breathed His last.

Here is the incredible part—that when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God and saying that Jesus was a righteous man. A centurion who beat and dragged the Son of God to calvary, witnessed Jesus’ cry and final breath and, with praise, declared who Jesus was!

Søren Kierkegaard said something remarkable: “The gospel is seldom heard but it is overheard.” Jesus wasn’t even talking to the centurion; He was talking to His Father. Yet this man overheard and something changed in him.

It gets crazier in Mark’s account. I think it is the same centurion, but Mark adds a bit of a twist: “When the centurion, who was standing right in front of Him, saw the way He breathed His last, he said, ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’” (Mark 15:39).

What? Breathing. Just His breathing. Just the way He breathed. And the man’s response to breathing was, “Truly this man was the Son of God."

St. Francis of Assisi said, “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” Jesus didn’t use words in Mark’s account. He just breathed. What was happening? Did the centurion get saved by simply observing Jesus’ breath? I don’t think so. Let me explain.

Breathing is what we do every day and in every moment. And people watch the way we do life every day and in every moment. The simple things we do, such as breathing, we do them without thought. But there are other things we do that people watch: the way we raise our children, the way we speak to them; the way we treat people in retail; how we handle our finances; how we have a good work ethic; how we don’t get an attitude when we drive or when we work behind a counter or desk; when we come to work on time and don’t leave till the job is done; how we finish tasks.

I call that breathing. The stuff we do—that we do the right way.

The centurion did not get saved from Jesus’ one breath but by watching Jesus until the moment He died. It was the way Jesus responded to the abuse. Listen to how Peter described those moments on the cross, which gave breathing power:

If you endure suffering even when you have done right, God will bless you for it. It was to this that God called you, for Christ himself suffered for you and left you an example, so that you would follow in his steps. He committed no sin, and no one ever heard a lie come from his lips. When he was insulted, he did not answer back with an insult; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but placed his hopes in God, the righteous judge. (1 Peter 2:20-23, GNT)

The centurion did not just see breathing, he saw more—he saw no lies coming from Him. When Jesus was insulted, He did not answer back. When He was beaten, He did not threaten back. He placed His hope in God.

Everything added up to the centurion’s realization that “truly this man was the Son of God.” After seeing Him breathe during the pain, the suffering, and the false accusations, watching Him breathe that final breath was the icing on the cake.

When you live the way Jesus lived, then the simplest thing—like breathing—can change someone’s life.

Day 66

Today’s Reading: Luke 22

In today’s reading we are entering into Luke’s telling of the Passion Week. While Jesus is with His disciples in the garden of Gethsemane, He speaks some remarkable words to Peter, which will be important to all of us, because it is what Jesus does right now for every one of His children.

At the Last Supper, right after Jesus says that one of the Twelve will betray Him, He then says these words to Peter:

Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers. (Luke 22:31-32, NIV)

Simon, Simon.

Just like when you heard your parents use your full name when you were a kid—this is what it means when Jesus repeats Peter’s name twice. This is the full name with the middle name—and that means trouble. What makes this interesting is Jesus goes back to the name, Simon, which He’d changed to Peter.

Remember the story from Matthew 16:15-18, when Peter said to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus said, “Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church."

Now Jesus goes back to the old name and says it twice. Peter is not necessarily in trouble, but is about to experience trouble . . . Satanic trouble.

Jesus says, “Satan has asked.”

Satan is God’s Satan. He is not an independent agent who can take your life without God’s permission. He is not an independent entity who does what he wants. We see that in the book of Job when Satan had to get permission to attack Job.

Try to imagine the picture Jesus gives Simon Peter: Satan is on one side trying to take Peter and to sift him like wheat. And on the other side, Jesus is praying for him. “Satan has asked to sift all of you . . . I have prayed for you.” At the same time that Satan is asking for Peter, Jesus is interceding for him. That changes everything! That alters the whole case! There may be failure, defection, cowardly denial, and compromise, but there can never be ultimate ruin. Why? The praying Christ.

We think our spiritual lives are all about what we do—our prayer lives, our consistency in Bible reading—and our successes in those things secure us. But nothing could be further from the truth.

The plotting of Satan is no match for the praying Christ.

It isn’t your prayers that secure your place with Him in eternity—it’s Jesus’ prayers that secure you.

I don’t think we can mention the praying Christ without referencing His post-resurrection heaven ministry. Listen to it: “He is able to save fully from now throughout eternity, everyone who comes to God through him, because he lives to pray continually for them” (Hebrews 7:25, TPT).

Satan does not get his way with you. Because you have a Savior who neither sleeps nor slumbers (Psalm 121:4) and is continually praying for you.

Peter doesn’t just get a praying Christ; we get a praying Christ. A person must get past the love of Christ for us, the cross of Christ that values us, and the prayers of Christ before he or she can make their bed in hell.

I love this story. Little Johnny would wake up every night, because he would hear a bump. But the sound was him as he fell out of bed in his sleep. This happened five nights in a row, until finally Johnny said to his father, “Daddy, I’m so tired of falling out of the bed. Can you fix it?” His father said, “Son, it is really simple. You never got far enough in.”

The reason you keep falling out of Jesus is because you never got far enough in. You got in church, now it’s time to get in Christ. In Christ, you have a praying Christ.

Satan

Day 65

Today’s Reading: Luke 21

When I begin to think about what Jesus can see, I am amazed. Consider these:

• Jesus sees the past. In John 1, He tells Nathaniel the day he was under a fig tree.

With all these amazing things that Jesus sees, would He be interested in the scribble on a church tithing envelope? I think He is interested, and He does look at what we give. Consider this opening story in Luke 21.

He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. And He said, “Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on.” (Luke 21:1-4)

We get worried too much about what the government can see and what they know about us that we forget something really important. That God is omniscient. And He knows everything that is going on in our lives.

He sees it all. Omniscience is a theological word to describe one of the attributes of God. It means that He is all knowing. That He knows everything about you and me—not just what we do but why we do it.

A few years ago, I was sitting in a meeting next to a very talented graphic designer for a major Christian organization. He told me, “When we are designing something, we always tell ourselves that when people do something, there is the good reason and there is the real reason. Our company always tries to figure out the real reason.”

I was reading the story about the American industrialist, Henry Ford, who was asked to donate money for a new medical facility’s construction in Ireland:

The billionaire pledged to donate $5,000. The next day in the newspaper, the headline read, “Henry Ford contributes $50,000 to the local hospital.” The irate Ford was on the phone immediately to complain to the fund-raiser that he had been misunderstood. The fund-raiser replied that they would print a retraction in the paper the following day the headline to read, “Henry Ford reduces his donation by $45,000 to the hospital.” Realizing the poor publicity that would result, the industrialist agreed to the $50,000 contribution.

Real reason? Saving face.

Jesus knows the real reason—all the time. This is Jesus’ last time in the temple before the crucifixion and His last message to the people. And His last message in the temple is on giving.

Understand this about the offering time at church: He is not just there, He is watching. He knows not only who is giving but what they gave.

He saw the woman drop in her two small copper coins. And the offering that caught His attention was a “no noise” offering.

Let me explain. First remember this: she put in a lepta. It was less than a penny. It was the smallest currency in Palestine. Jesus has to be very close to see someone drop in two pennies. In fact, their nickname was “small change.”

At that time the bigger donation of money, the heavier the money. Literally heavier. The heavier the cash, the louder it was.

Why is loud important? So people could hear your offering make a sound and clap and cheer for you when it hit the brass offering buckets.

The treasury where they placed their offerings consisted of thirteen brass treasure chests called trumpets because they were shaped like in

Day 64

Today’s Reading: Luke 20

Not everyone who asks you a question wants an answer or wants the truth. Listen to one of the most profound questions ever asked. It was a question someone asked of Jesus, and the one who asked it never stopped to hear the answer: “Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’ And when he had said this, he went out again to the Jews . . .” (John 18:38).

Pilate asked the question and did not even give the One who is called “the truth” a moment to answer. I don’t know if he was really interested. Many times people ask questions, not for the answer, but to see what side you have taken. Their question is for exposure not for truth.

In today’s reading, that is what Jesus faced three times. The religious were asking questions not to know the answer but to see what “side” He was on.

Today in this hostile culture we are in, we face the same thing in our workplaces, college campuses, even the local coffee shops. Maybe we can take a page out of Jesus’ book, from His methods of dialoguing in a hostile environment.

Let’s look at two of the three situations. Notice what was asked and then notice how Jesus responded:

On one of the days while He was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders confronted Him, and they spoke, saying to Him, “Tell us by what authority You are doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority?” Jesus answered and said to them, “I will also ask you a question, and you tell Me: Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men?” (Luke 20:1-4)

They watched Him, and sent spies who pretended to be righteous, in order that they might catch Him in some statement, so that they could deliver Him to the rule and the authority of the governor. They questioned Him, saying, “Teacher, we know that you speak and teach correctly, and you are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?” But He detected their trickery and said to them, “Show Me a denarius. Whose likeness and inscription does it have?” (Luke 20:20-24)

Jesus did the same thing with every ill-intentioned question. Remember, none of these religious people were asking Jesus to hear the answer but to discover what side He was on. Or as apologist Ravi Zacharias explains that every question comes with an assumption. That is why C. S. Lewis said, “Nothing is so self-defeating than a question that has not been fully understood.”

Let’s take a page from Jesus. What did He do in each situation? Jesus asked questions to the questioner. He questioned the question. Many ask questions but never have been questioned themselves.

I have seen preachers on television being asked these kinds of questions—from hosts on the Today show to Oprah to reporters on CNN and Fox News. Every time they are asked a question as Jesus was, they answer it and get in trouble. Instead of doing what Jesus did, some of these pastors wrongly assessed that these people wanted an answer, which wasn’t true. They wanted to know their side, so the attack could commence.

Answer the question when people want an answer. Question the question when people want to fight.

Jesus would not let them catch Him, but His questions put them on the defensive. One of the most explosive questions Christians are asked today: What is your view of same-sex marriage? Let’s take a page from Jesus: What question can we ask in return that would turn the tables?

Maybe something like this: Do you believe in God? Do you think this is something important enough that He has something to say about it? Would you believe in God even if He contradicts what you think? So where would you find out what God thinks?

Someone said, “Most people dismiss the Bible not because i

Day 63

Today’s Reading: Luke 19

Today’s reading contains the story of a crazy conversion of a rich man. But in order to get its full picture, we have to read something from the previous chapter about a crazy miracle healing of a blind man.

Luke 18:35 says, “As Jesus was approaching Jericho . . .” (Remember Jericho, because we’ll come back to that.) “As Jesus was approaching Jericho, a blind man was sitting by the road begging.” The blind man’s name is Bartimaeus. Everyone tells him not to ask Jesus to do anything for him, but he doesn’t listen to their admonitions and calls out to Jesus to be healed. And the last verse of chapter 18 says: “Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him, glorifying God” (verse 43).

Remember that the chapter divisions were placed in the Bible around the 13th century. I think this is a running story, so let’s connect the two stories and continue reading in Luke 19: “He entered Jericho . . .” (verse 1). Jesus was approaching Jericho and now He entered the city. Let’s keep reading:

There was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich. Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way. When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Verses 2-10)

The great American evangelist D. L. Moody wrote something interesting about these two stories:

Pardon me, if I now draw a little on my imagination. Bartimaeus gets into Jericho [with Jesus], and he says, “I will go and see my wife, and tell her about it.” A young convert always wants to talk to his friends about salvation. Away he goes down to the street, and there he meets a man who passes him, goes on a few yards, and then turns round and says, “Bartimaeus, is that you?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I thought it was, but I could not believe my eyes. How have you got your sight?”

“Oh, I just met Jesus of Nazareth outside the city, and asked Him to have mercy on me.”

“Jesus of Nazareth! What, is He in this part of the country?”

“Yes. He is right here in Jericho. . . ”

“I should like to see Him,” says the man, and away he runs down the street; but he cannot catch a glimpse of Him, even though he stands on tiptoe, being little of stature, and on account of the great throng around Him. . . [So] he climbs up into a sycamore tree.

“If I can get on to that branch, hanging right over the highway, He cannot pass without my getting a good look at Him.”

That must have been a very strange sight to see the rich man climbing up a tree like a boy, and hiding among the leaves, where he thought nobody would see him, to get a glimpse of the passing stranger!

He was small . . . there was a tree . . . and he was desperate. And when you are desperate, you will do whatever it takes to get what you want.

A little boy told his father, “I want a new bike.”

The father said, “In this house we pray and ask God for the things we want and need.”

That night the little boy prayed, “Dear God, I need a new bike."

The next morning the littl

Day 62

Today’s Reading: Luke 18

In today’s reading, Jesus tells a story on prayer. But I think through the story, He wants us to pick the guy we think God likes best so He can teach us a lesson. Sometimes we assume that God likes who we like and what we like. It should be easy to pick out who God likes best:

He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’

“Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said, ‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’”

Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.” (Luke 18:9-14, MSG)

The two guys were a Pharisee and a tax man. Really, it’s the story of the church guy and the street guy. The church guy basically says: “I haven’t done bad stuff and I have done all the good stuff.” The street guy says: “I have done all the bad stuff; I am a sinner.”

They are both seemingly doing the same thing at the present—praying. But for prayer to be prayer, God has to hear it. Verse 11 (NASB) says, “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself.” God wasn’t listening. I love how Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard sums it up: “It is so much easier to become a Christian when you aren’t one than to become one when you assume you already are.”

If my wife and I have a disagreement and I am in the wrong, I have two ways to try to fix it:

The first way is that I do a lot of good things (self-righteously) for her. I give her gifts, do the dishes and laundry. I am being a good boy now. I am making myself acceptable to her. I keep doing stuff until the guilt is gone. That’s the first guy who prayed. He is trying to make himself right before God—to show how good and righteous he is. But the problem with this is that the offense is never addressed and fixed. It’s still on the account.

Or I can pursue the second way. The atmosphere is thick. What needs to happen? I need to offer an apology. I ask her for forgiveness. Why do I want her forgiveness? Because it puts the relationship back in order. Happy home, good meals, good conversation. I want to be forgiven so things can be happy between us. Things can be set right because the thing that separated us is now addressed, and the relationship can be restored. Forgiveness is the way to remove the obstacles so we can talk with each other.

The second way to find yourself back in relationship is by saying you are sorry. That is the heart of the gospel.

The only way to become a Christian is to understand that forgiveness is the starting point, not good deeds.

You are not raised into being right with God. You can’t make yourself likable to God. But you can come to God and say that you are sorry for the things you have done against Him.

Two men went to the temple and both prayed. But they didn’t leave with the same thing. One left right with God. The other left in the same condition as when he walked in.

I remember the story of a lawyer and a doctor sitting in the same church service and both heard the same message. The doctor made a decision to be born again that day. The lawyer did not. Like the Pharisee and the tax collector, one left with God and the other left exactly the same way. It took the lawyer three weeks to make that born-again decision of saying t