An encounter with Jesus? When? Where?
2 Corinthians 5: 17-20
"For if a man belongs to Christ, he is a new person. The old life is gone. New life has begun. All this comes from God. He is the One Who brought us to Himself when we hated Him. He did this through Christ. Then He gave us the work of bringing others to Him. God was in Christ. He was working through Christ to bring the whole world back to Himself. God no longer held men’s sins against them. And He gave us the work of telling and showing men this. We are Christ’s missionaries. God is speaking to you through us. We are speaking for Christ and we ask you from our hearts to turn from your sins and come to God."
"For if a man belongs to Christ, he is a new person. The old life is gone. New life has begun. All this comes from God. He is the One Who brought us to Himself when we hated Him. He did this through Christ. Then He gave us the work of bringing others to Him. God was in Christ. He was working through Christ to bring the whole world back to Himself. God no longer held men’s sins against them. And He gave us the work of telling and showing men this. We are Christ’s missionaries. God is speaking to you through us. We are speaking for Christ and we ask you from our hearts to turn from your sins and come to God."
The Word of God speaks of many characters that when they had an encounter with Jesus, everything, absolutely everything changed. Poor, rich, harlots, blind, lame, paralyzed, possessed, publicans, etc. But we must keep in mind that in order to access the wonderful blessings that come with meeting Jesus, it is necessary to fulfill a series of requirements. Let's see, for example, that we can learn from what Zaccheus did.
1. Recognize our condition: "There was a rich man named Zaccheus. He was a leader of those who gathered taxes. Zaccheus wanted to see Jesus but he could not because so many people were there and he was a short man." (Luke 19: 2-3). Zaccheus could not only approach Jesus because of his stature, but had on his backs the bad reputation being publican. We all have commited mistakes in one way or another, but God expects that in us the desire to "see who Jesus is" will be born ... Let us not forget that the Word of God says, "Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will look for Me and find Me, when you look for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29: 12-13) ... But do we recognize our condition?
2. Attitude of change: "He ran ahead and got up into a sycamore tree to see Him. Jesus was going by that way." (Luke 19: 4). Zaccheus after knowing his condition, he rushed to find his solution, not to add to the problem more problems! With what have we been fighting so long? Masturbation? Homosexuality? Lesbianism? Theft? Drugs? Prostitution? Witchcraft? Sorcery? Fornication? Adultery? ... In front of all the above Jesus is the solution "Jesus said, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one can go to the Father except by Me." (John 14: 6), however, what is our attitude?
3. The opportunity is created: "When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw Zaccheus. He said, “Zaccheus, come down at once. I must stay in your house today.” At once he came down and was glad to have Jesus come to his house." (Luke 19: 5-6). Jesus noticed the attitude, the mixture of repentance and desire for forgiveness that was in Zaccheus, and God will never despise all of this. "The gifts on an altar that God wants are a broken spirit. O God, You will not hate a broken heart and a heart with no pride." (Psalms 51:17) ... From God to us there is always opportunity but do we notice it?
4. Our look on Jesus: "When the people saw it, they began to complain among themselves. They said, “He is going to stay with a man who is known to be a sinner.”" (Luke 19: 7). Zaccheus recognized that the only one who could bring salvation into his life was Jesus ... Zaccheus knew that paying attention to comments that didn't come from Jesus it was to make him lose both the north and the time ... "Let us keep looking to Jesus. Our faith comes from Him and He is the One Who makes it perfect... "(Hebrews 12: 2a), "My sheep hear My voice and I know them. They follow Me. I give them life that lasts forever. They will never be punished. No one is able to take them out of My hand." (John 10: 27-28) ... When Jesus calls us, what are we looking at?
5. Commitment: "Zaccheus stood up and said to the Lord, “Lord, see! Half of what I own I will give to poor people. And if I have taken money from anyone in a wrong way, I will pay him back four times as much.”" (Luke 19: 8). Zaccheus just wanted to his moment with Jesus! When we have an encounter with Jesus, all bad practice we used to do become rubbish, we do not care that anymore, we just want to leave that behind to fully enjoy the presence of God, the phrase "Lord I leave all this to be with you ", a commitment is created. That is why the apostle Paul said, "Even more than that, I think of everything as worth nothing. It is so much better to know Christ Jesus my Lord. I have lost everything for Him. And I think of these things as worth nothing so that I can have Christ." (Philippians 3: 8) ... Do we agree to say "Yes" to the Lord?
An encounter with Jesus? When? Where? Possibly this happening at the moment and we have not noticed.
May we take a look?
God bless you and have an excellent day in Christ Jesus!
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