And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was of small stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. Luke 19:3-4 (ESV)

The Little Man That Did

The story of Zacchaeus has always been a favorite of mine. He was a Chief Tax Collector for Rome and had made himself very rich by taking from the populace more than Rome demanded. Not only were tax collectors loathed because of their extortion of their countrymen but also because they had betrayed Israel by collaborating with the Roman oppressors. They were alienated by the people, living what must have been lives of scorn and lonliness.

On this day Jesus was passing through Jericho. The fame of this itinerant rabbi had apparently reached Zacchaeus. Out of curiosity he went out to see him but he was small in height and couldn't see over the crowd. Not to be defeated in purpose he ran ahead and climbed into a sycamore tree putting him above the throngs of people along the road.

One of the reasons this account resonates with me is the response of Jesus when He saw Zacchaeus. Looking up He called him by name saying “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today” (vs 5). One can almost see the smile on Jesus' face and hear the mirth and merriment in His voice. Zacchaeus climbed down and joyfully received Jesus.

The story of Zacchaeus ends gloriously. This very rich man said he would give half of his goods to the poor and restore fourfold to anyone he had defrauded, which had probably been many. He climbed up into a tree to see Jesus and found the Kingdom of God even prompting the LORD Jesus to joyfully exclaim “Today salvation has come to this house.”

There is so much that can be spiritually gleaned from these verses. As you meditate on them I'm sure many will come to mind. You never know the impact your words, life, and love, can have on others. Some plant seeds, others water and God makes it grow (1^st Corinthians 3:8). Perhaps many people had done just that for Zacchaeus, planting seeds that resulted in salvation for him and his house.  

Your testimony may be seeds planted in a heart that causes a searcher to climb into their own tree of investigation of the Gospel and finding the Kingdom Of God. It happened to a despised tax collector and it can happen to that particular person you have been praying for for such a long time. Zacchaeus was a man that had been written off by society but by climbing a tree to see Jesus found redemption. By doing so he could be called the little man that did.

Ken

He who finds a wife finds a good thing and obtains favor from the LORD. Proverbs 18:22 (ESV)

A Man Most Favored

I am greatly favored of the Lord. He has granted me a wonderful spouse in my wife Tommie. She has fulfilled her vows to me and as King Lemuel writes of a wife, “She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.” (Proverbs 31:12). She has certainly proved herself in that.

Tommie has faithfully fulfilled Proverbs 31 in our 47 years together. She has been wife, mother, and grandmother, and at times of some illnesses had to become breadwinner and provider, yet she has remained a woman who loves Christ with her whole heart. She is a steadying and pious influence in our family.

In our years together the LORD has seen fit to allow me to be troubled with some serious medical afflictions. She has faithfully stood by me, nursed me, helped me regain wellness, and at times gave me a much needed boot when I have come close to giving up.

I can take all the time here to give her the praise and honor she is due. But that praise and honor is so vast in its scope that it cannot be done in this writing. But the full honor and glory goes to God who in His perfect wisdom and knowledge called her to know Him through His Son Jesus Christ. He prepared her to be a part of my life and our family. She is a precious treasure and I praise Him daily for such a wonderful wife.

The Bible calls Christian men to love their wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25). Wives are to be respected and cherished. See in her the treasure she is. She is a gift from heaven. Joy in her, love her, protect her. A wife brings favor by the LORD. I have found this to be so. I have found myself a man most favored.

Ken

“Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” Ephesians 6:2-3 (ESV)

Fathers Are Still in Fashion

I have been thinking of my Dad lately and the legacy he left me and I'm thanking God for him. If he were still living he would turn 100 this year. It's come so quickly and it's hard to believe.

Born in 1919, Dad's family relocated from Oklahoma to northern Texas when he was 7. He remembered the move being made in a covered wagon. He mentioned once, “I've lived in the time of covered wagons and into the age of seeing man standing on the moon.”

He was the product of a broken home. My grandfather abandoned the family, taking all the savings, leaving the family destitute at the height of the Great Depression. Dad and his brothers were left with the responsibilities of running the family farm. He was just 13. He became a self-taught mechanic and all-around handyman adept at fixing anything. In 1939 during a severe drought the family pulled up stakes, moving from Texas to Central California and making their living working at farming.

After serving four years in the Army Air Corp during World War II he returned to civilian life in 1945. He came to know Christ during a revival near the Azusa Street Mission in downtown Los Angeles in 1947. The positive change in his life was instantaneous and permanent. He was by no means a perfected saint but remained a committed Christian throughout the rest of his life. In today's vernacular he brought a lot of “baggage” into the family that was still stirred by animosity for his father's betrayal.

Dad and myself at the San Diego Zoo, May 1983, one month before his death.

Even with his issues he remained a positive role model of integrity and uprightness that I have striven to imitate. Looking back on it all he did the best he knew how with the tools he had, even to the forgiving of his father for the harm he did to his family.

Maybe some of you had a father that was verbally or physically abusive or perhaps did not have a father in the family at all and it's difficult to even visualize a father who was a positive role model.

For those of you who may have been abused, I'm sorry that happened to you. Any abuse, physical or verbal, is never right. But let me say right here the abuse you may have suffered was not your fault. It was the work of physical strength beyond yours given over to evil. Even if you had no father in your life you now have a faithful Father in Heaven. His love for you is personal and without condition.

It is a shame radical feminism has so poisoned our culture against men and especially the positive effect fathers have on the nuclear family. Dad's are a needed part of the family both for the growth and maturity of daughters but especially sons.

Yes, it is true that sometimes dads don't act perfectly but their presence and input into a family is essential. God made it that way. I am so thankful to Him for giving me my dad. I pray the legacy he left in my family of years past can be the same for mine when the LORD calls me home.

Thank you Dad. I am truly blessed to have had you in my life. He was taken into the arms of Christ in 1983. I still miss him. But because of Christ's work I know we will be together again in a future day. It will be a great reunion and this time it will be perfect, right-down to hugs and tears of joy. Fathers are indeed still in fashion.

Ken

And he called out, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.” (Luke 16:24 ESV)

What Would You Say?

It used to be when someone asked me if I believed God would send them to hell I really did not know what to say outside of “Yes, that's what the Bible says.” It was a weak response in the fact it did not open a dialogue to discuss the question and share the gospel.

Today my response is, “I believe because you even asked that question that you must have at some point really thought about this. I'll be glad to answer you, but first let me ask you a question for clarification's sake. 'If you had the opportunity to stand before a holy and perfectly pure God knowing the things you've done in your life, would you take it?'” If the person is honest they would say “No.” I then ask “Why wouldn't you take the opportunity?” It usually comes down to admitting they are too impure in their thinking or lifestyle.

I will add, “You see, if a person dies in their sin then they have to be permanently separated from a perfect and holy God for He would never allow sin to live in His presence. And wouldn't permanent separation from God be a kind of hell in itself? A person would be left in eternal darkness and despair with no hope of escape.”

Jesus gives us a glimpse of the horror of hell in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 16, that speaks of great heat and torment. Some say this is just another one of Jesus' parables (stories that illustrate a truth) and really isn't an actual occurrence. But it is something to reckon with that Jesus as Eternal Deity (John 17:5) would have known such things. He never said or even hinted His account was just an illustration.

At this point some have said “You're just trying to scare me into believing in Christ.” My response is “You should be scared. If a holy and perfect God exists then because of sin and rebellion there would have to be a hell. To answer your question, yes, if you reject Christ and die in your sins, God, according to His word, would have no other choice but to put your soul into separation in hell. But no matter where you find yourself right now you can achieve pardon, love, and acceptance by believing in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins (Luke 23:40-43). Will you trust Jesus? What have you got to lose?”

At this point whether they chose to believe in Christ or not I joyfully share the elation, astonishment, and awe of heaven and knowing God and His life-changing Christ for all eternity. That's the message of the gospels and one I love to tell. No matter what a person has done there is complete forgiveness and relief from guilt and shame through believing in Christ. And I might add, hell will be a place never to be experienced.

Ken

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (Romans 12:1)

Staying Power

Someone once said “The only trouble with being a living sacrifice is it wants to keep crawling off the altar.”

Being a sacrifice doesn't necessarily mean being martyred but that can be one definition. A sacrifice is giving something willingly that is of great cost to the giver. In this context Paul is speaking of living a life of total consecration to God, sacrificing our sinful natures and desires on the altar of consecrated devotion.  Not just simply to living a “good and moral life” but to inclusion into a living relationship with God. 

But being a spiritual sacrifice hurts and runs counter to our physical and spiritual comforts. The highest and purest example of sacrifice is our Heavenly Father offering His only begotten and perfect Son as the once-for-all forfeit for every sin. That had to hurt and grieve the Father to a depth beyond our comprehension. Jesus said of the sacrificial life to “take up your cross, deny yourself, and follow Me” (Matthew 16:24).

The cross is death. Taking it up means being willing to die yet in its essence can simply mean “Today, I will obey the law of the land by driving the posted speed limit.” We do it to honor the One who ordained physical law and order (Romans 13:1-2). Doing it as slaves of Christ even when no cop is in sight, remembering the eye of Christ is consistently watching.

The altar of sacrifice was set before us when we first believed. The choice to be on it is ours. Christ put Himself on that altar for us despising the shame of the cross (Hebrews 12:2) receiving all honor, glory, and dominion through it (Jude 1:25).

Crawling onto the altar may mean sacrificing areas of our lives that may be holding us back from the fullness of God's interaction in our lives. Faith and trust in the Holy Spirit's power can keep us on the Altar. Not getting on it might be easier but staying on it will certainly bring spiritual growth and the sweetest communion.

Ken

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. (Psalm 32:1-2)

Pardon Revealed-No Stigma Entailed

My background is in Human Resources. When I was first starting hiring I was contacted by an agency that placed ex-felons in entry-level positions to give them an entry point back into society. That really appealed to me and I enthusiastically brought the agency to my manager's attention. She immediately told me “No, we can't do that.” I told her they were entry-level positions we would be hiring for adding it would give a hand up to people that needed it. Her response was “They can't be trusted” She was the boss so that ended it. That's stigma.

Christ doesn't do stigma. The account of the woman taken in adultery demonstrates it in a deeply touching and personal way (John 8:3-11). The Prophet Micah wrote 'He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities underfoot, You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea' (7:18-19). Believers on Christ are forgiven of every sin. Every mistake. Permanently.

God joys over you with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). He already knows what you need as soon as you open your eyes in the morning. Jesus said He gives abundant life (John 10:10). Is there something you need to confess to Him sincerely and with a repentant heart? He sees it and forgives you before you ask.

Neither Jesus nor our heavenly Father hold resentment and He never looks back. When the books of our lives are open before Christ, all we will hear is “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” Inheritance speaks of adoption. Perfect love, perfect forgiveness. There is never any stigma in that.

Ken

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 14:6

Sticks and Stones

Ever wonder why people can talk about God without getting nettled, but bring Jesus into the conversation and people become defensive and angry? I've been verbally abused in past conversations about Jesus Christ by people who knew absolutely nothing about Him above being a curse word. And yes, it can hurt. Speaking of God is generic in the sense many religions believe in “God”, just not the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible. Bringing Jesus into the equation can lead them to make some very ignorant and injurious comments. The old saying that sticks and stones can never hurt is plainly untrue. Verbal stones can hurt deeply.

Jesus is specific in His teaching of the kingdom of heaven and is inflexible in that everyone must go through Him to have salvation and fellowship with the God of the Hebrew/Christian Scriptures. He is the only way and that tends to get folks riled up.

But what kind of man would utter such an incredible statement as Jesus did? The only way? He even claimed to be God. The Jews understood that and picked up stones to kill Him for blasphemy (John 10:30-39). No wonder He made that statement. He had authority from the Father that sent Him (John 7:16, 12:49).

Speaking of Christ stirs up rebellion and hatred in hearts that they must believe only on Him as the only way to God or that they must believe at all. Nobody tells me what to do. Jesus does and with authority, even to keeping them from eternal separation from God. If they choose to deny Jesus they will be found to be without excuse (Romans 1:19-20).

We can stand strong in the power of the Holy Spirit that God's word never returns empty (Isaiah 55:11). All we need to do is speak the truth of Christ in love and don't sweat the outcome. It goes out of our hands and into the hands of the Holy Spirit. He will do everything He can to work in people's lives. Maybe metaphorically speaking, unbeliever's sticks and stones may break our bones. But we can be certain that Christ has the last word on the subject and that Word always heals.

Ken