Changed In God's Presence

Saturday, January 14th, 2012

Today's Passage> Luke 19: 1-10
Memory Verses> Luke 19: 8-9

In the book of 2 Timothy chapter 3, Paul describes the state of a society that looks an awful lot like ours.  People are "lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, savage, opposed to what is good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, loving pleasure rather than loving God.  They will maintain the outward appearance of religion, but deny its power" (verses 2-4).  And the scary thing is he was NOT talking about unsaved people.  The words "saved" and "believer"  doesn't seem to have the same meaning as it did a few years ago.

This past Wednesday in our worship service, the Lord spoke over us that there needs to be evidence of being in His presence when we come out.  More than ever before, as a result of moral values being consistently erased, people need to be able to tell us apart from those who are in the world.  But how will this happen if many of us don't aspire to change?  We don't realize that, no matter how long we've been believers, there are still things about us that don't reflect the nature of God in our lives.  And rather than be indifferent about getting rid of those things, there's a certain attitude of desperation that should drive us to seek and be changed in God's presence.

Today's passage is a wonderful example of the attitude God is looking for in His children.  Zaccheus is a well-known, wealthy Jew, but he is not well-liked because of what he does for a living.  When he hears that Jesus is on His way, he does something that someone of his stature should never be seen doing.  He runs ahead and climbs into a tree so that he can see and hear Jesus minister.  Although he has every natural thing he could desire, he knows his heart and soul need a change.  This type of desperation is so pleasant to Jesus that He invites Himself to Zaccheus' house.  Against the will of the religious ones who saw Jesus all the time but had no clue who He really was, Jesus goes to visit Zaccheus, and the conviction to change was immediately evident.

For those who call ourselves the totally devoted, change should be the thing we strive towards like nothing else.  Our desperation to see Him should come out in our dedication to worship Him on a daily basis, not only when we get to church.  Zaccheus was confronted with his sin when he encountered Jesus.  At the end of this encounter, repentance occurred.  The closer we get to Christ, the greater our desire should be to change.  Just maintaining where we've always been only reveals devotion to ourselves.  May we run ahead to meet our Lord, sup with Him, and come away changed.

Prayer: Father, You are my desire.  Spending time in Your Presence has become a priority for me.  In Your Presence I have found everything I need.  I ask You to strip me of my secret faults and let Your Holy Spirit reveal those things that separate me from You.  I live to worship You alone.  Change me in Your Presence.  In Jesus' Name, Amen.