S166P9 – The good disciple: a repentant heart
Lk.19:5-10
And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw [the chief tax collector], and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. But when [the crowd] saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.” Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
I expect that you remember the day that salvation came to your house. If your experience was like mine, you did not see Jesus face-to-face in the flesh, but you did encounter him in a powerful way. Perhaps it was a sermon spoken from the pulpit that pierced your heart, a bumper sticker on the car in front of you in traffic or a conversation with one of the saints. The Spirit found some kind of way to present you to the Lord and offer you an opportunity to repent. You might have made a statement like Zacchaeus here, promising to right every wrong you had committed. It was the moment of realizing in whose presence You were and recognizing your fallen and damned state in comparison.
This story of Zacchaeus shows us what happened in a moment, but I think that his words and apparent demeanor show us that this attitude was for more than a moment. His statement of repentance was not a statement meant for that singular time. This appears to be a genuine change, which means that the repentant attitude would continue. We would expect him not only to return that which he had stolen but also not to steal again. The picture it paints is one of a person who continues to survey his or her heart because repentance is a continual process as long as our flesh remains. I think it is really a matter of how we view that repentance when we are brought to that point.
The question is whether the excitement of this man in the presence of the Lord to change himself is what we feel as we continually look upon our Lord. Not only are we in his presence, but He resides within us. We carry his Spirit as a constant reminder of his perfect character, and that Spirit brings us conviction when necessary. The hope is that we are excited to change willingly and not sad to leave the things of the flesh behind us. If we really desire to be holy as He is holy, then our attitude should show that we really want to continue to change. Father, help us to be genuinely repentant in how we live these lives and excited to kill more and more of our flesh daily.