The Lord still wants me to say a few things along the topics of our recent postings. Today, however, we’ll take a breather and change the subject.
And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold (Luke 19:8)."
Zacchaeus did a lot of wrong things in his life, but when he saw the love and forgiveness of Jesus and believed in Him, i.e. became born again, he felt he had to make amends where he harmed others and stole from them.
How many of us have been or are in the same position in our lives, but didn't find it possible to make right? We've maybe moved on and lost contact with people, and in some cases we're not even sure whether people were aware of our wrongdoing. In the case of the latter, having to go back and tell them about it may cause more harm than good.
We do, however, read in Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”, and in Philippians 4:6, 7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” It doesn’t matter what we’ve done, the Lord has forgiven us, but sometimes we still feel we need to do something about it to get peace.
So how do we make amends? We do it through the principle of...
DO NOT REPAY KINDNESS, BUT PASS IT ON.
How does this principle work? If someone has been kind to you, it shouldn’t be a case of “I owe you” like some do. The Lord will bless them for their giving and you therefore owe them nothing. The giver should not expect anything back either. "Give and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you (Luke 6:38)."
No, as repayment we should bless someone else – pass on the kindness.
How does this apply in our Zacchaeus Thing? We need to amend the wrongs mentioned above by blessing and forgiving others. Go out of your way to do good and hold nothing against others. If you can't amend what you've done, amend what’s been done to others by those who won't amend what's they’ve done, and then you’ll have peace.
Father, in the name of Jesus we ask you to help us, through the Holy Spirit, to amend where we've wronged by blessing those you bring on our way and forgiving those who sin against us.
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