Why did the lost flock to Jesus? Everywhere He went, they came to Him. When the elite in society walked by, they couldn’t help but to rail against Jesus for eating with sinners. Do you remember when He called Matthew to be a disciple?
“And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” (Luke 5:29-30 ESV).
And then a woman, who was a sinner, approached Jesus and it caused the Pharisees to lose it:
“And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment.
Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.” (Luke 7:37-39 ESV).
Jesus tried to tell the religious leaders why He spent time with the sinners.
“And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31-32 ESV).
But why would the lost flock to Him? What was it about Jesus that caused them to crash a Pharisee's dinner party or climb a tree just to catch a glimpse of Him and then throw Him a lavish party?
Jesus never overlooked their sins. He never pretended that they were ok when they needed to repent. And yet they couldn’t stay away from the Lord. The reason they could come to Him so readily is because He held His arms open wide to them. While the Scribes and Pharisees made sure that the sinners knew how far down on the rungs of society they were, Jesus was giving them what they needed. Attention and a way up. A way to God.
And the Pharisees hated it.
While the shepherds of the land rejected them and made them feel worthless, Jesus showed them that they mattered. The worst thing we can do today is to think that the lost won't be interested in hearing us speak about Jesus to them. People are still looking for a purpose. They do this because God has put eternity in our hearts (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
Maybe we'll also find out that they will still flock to Jesus today if they learn that they still matter. Maybe they are looking for something of value to replace the emptiness and void they have without God.
People tell them that they can find purpose in riches or fame. They can find contentment in a life of service or education. Perhaps they can find happiness if they can climb the rungs of success in a blossoming career. But as the writer of Ecclesiastes testified, all this is vanity.
But Jesus offers purpose. He offers redemption. He offers salvation. When others say you are worthless, Jesus says that you are worth so much, He would die for you. When was the last time someone said that to you? When was the last time someone did that for you?
Why did the lost flock to Jesus? Because they needed Him. And He gave them what only He could offer. He gave them everything that society couldn’t give them.
And so, they threw Him a feast and He ate with them. They washed His feet with their tears and He wasn’t afraid to touch them. They cried over their broken lives and He forgave them. And this is what the lost can get from Him today. And we get to be the ones who can introduce them to the One who can do all this for them even today.
It is one thing to say, “Lord, I'm totally committed to serving and following You, whatever You say.”
It's another thing to say, “Lord, I'm totally committed to serving and following You as long as You ask me to do it the way I think it should be done. “
Will the Lord find you today?
God is not passive.
He is not the God of the deists who believed God created everything and then stepped away from His creation to leave it alone.
He is active in our lives and He earnestly seeks those who have a whole heart that is pure for Him.
Today, when the Lord searches the earth, will He find you?
Today, keep your heart whole. Be found by the searching eyes of the Lord and rest in the support that the Lord will give you.
“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9a ESV).
What is your 300?
Do you remember the story of Gideon, the judge that God appointed to deliver Israel from the hands of Midian? 32,000 men gathered to fight with Gideon. But God looked at the army and had an observation that would make most men weak in the knees:
“The LORD said to Gideon, “The people with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel boast over me, saying, 'My own hand has saved me.'“ (Judges 7:2 ESV).
So, God sent 22,000 men home because they were afraid. Only 10,000 men were left. Still, God did not like the odds before Gideon. If most of us were in Gideon’s shoes, we’d start to worry about now, wouldn’t we?
“And the LORD said to Gideon, “The people are still too many. Take them down to the water, and I will test them for you there, and anyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall go with you,' shall go with you, and anyone of whom I say to you, 'This one shall not go with you,' shall not go.” (Judges 7:4 ESV).
When all was said and done, God whittled the great army down to 300 men. These were the men who God would use to deliver the people of Israel. At the end of the day, Gideon, nor Israel, could boast that they were delivered by their own hand, but they’d have no choice but to give glory and honor to God for His deliverance.
Think about this the next time that you face an impossible situation. Maybe the help that you pray for does not come about as you are asking for it. Perhaps you find that all options have been cut off and you see that the Lord has said “no” to your prayers for help.
Before you are quick to jump to the wrong conclusion and give up in trusting the Lord to deliver you because the situation has grown “impossible”, consider that the Lord may be whittling your options for deliverance down to a place where you will have no choice but to see the Lord’s hand in what He is about to do for you.
What is your 300? What situation seems so bleak that you see no other option but defeat? What do you see that you have no choice but to say that the Lord has said no?
Before you stop praying for deliverance, leave open the possibility that the Lord may be whittling your options down so that you will have no choice but to see His hand in the help He is about to send your way. Follow in the steps of Gideon when you are in an impossible situation and continue to put your trust in the Lord. See if He is about to work a great thing for you that leaves no doubt that the help is from Him. And if He does, be quick to praise Him for being a God who can deliver by the hands of 300 instead of through the hands of 32,000.
I just finished 1 Chronicles in my daily Bible reading. In this reading, we see where David wants to build a house for the Lord but the Lord says “no” to him. Instead, that honor will fall to his son, Solomon.
“Go and tell my servant David, 'Thus says the LORD: It is not you who will build me a house to dwell in.” (1 Chronicles 17:4 ESV).
Can you imagine how this must have disappointed David? Yet, David accepts the Lord’s decision without complaint. He doesn’t try to justify building the house of the Lord anyway. He honors God and is humbled that God is instead building a great, enduring house for him.
But it’s worth looking at all that David did when the Lord told him “no”.
He made provisions by storing up huge quantities of gold, silver, bronze and wood for the temple.
He had the inspired plans drawn up and archived until Solomon could use them.
He organized the people who would be serving in the temple.
He sat down with his son, Solomon, to prepare him for the work of building the house of God.
When God told David “no”, David accepted it, but he didn’t walk away from what he could do. Instead, David made do with the best he had. If he couldn’t be the one to build the temple of God, then he would do everything in his power to support the one who would build it.
What a lesson for us today. Perhaps things don’t work out for us to do for the Lord what is really in our heart. What do we do when that happens? Do we walk away and wash our hands of any responsibility?
Or do we look at how we can be a support to the one who is doing what we had hoped and prayed to do? Do we shift our thinking from being the one who delivers to being the one who supports the hands of the one who delivers?
Whatever role we play, let us never forget that we do all for the glory of God. Whether the one who steps up or the one who supports the person who steps up. God recognizes and rewards both of these men equally. And both give equal glory and honor to God.
Earlier today, I shared how excited I was that I am a couple of days away from reading through the entire Bible for the first time. It has taken me about 3 and a half months. Many have reached out and asked me to share my system with them. The system I use works great for me, though it may not be something that works for everyone.
For me, my mind often wanders during extended reading. But I have noticed that with audiobooks, I can consume large volumes of books with high comprehension and retention. So, I found a way to combine reading the Bible text while listening to it through a dramatic word-for-word reading (multiple actors reading different parts, along with sound effects like a crowd screaming or thunder crashing for example).
The result: I can sit for an hour and read the text in an online Bible as I follow along while listening to it being read word-for-word. The combination of hearing and reading has dramatically increased my retention and comprehension.
To make this experience even better, I downloaded on my laptop a Chrome extension called Simple Auto Scroll which allows the Bible text to automatically scroll as I read. Through some trial and error in the settings, I set the slow scroll speed to 80 and it usually does a good job at scrolling at a reading pace, though some adjustments may be needed in longer readings. You don’t need an auto scroller, but it helps me. If you use another browser, you will have to search for another auto scroller.
Another important ingredient in my reading success was in finding the perfect time of the day to consistently read. For me, that meant getting up at 4:00 am and starting by 4:15am -4:25am. When I tried to do it later in the day, I had too much going on and my reading became spotty. But when I started the day with my reading before anyone else woke up and before any daily distractions started, not only could I get in my scheduled reading, but it was amazing at how much of the day later was spent on thinking about my reading.
So, here is my routine for reading through the Bible in three and a half months at around an hour a day (that averages about 10 chapters a day).
1. Set my reading time. For me, it meant getting up at 4am.
2. Choose my daily reading. This time around, I randomly chose a book, alternating between the Old and New Testaments. (In the future, I will read straight through from time to time).
3. Open the “Faith Comes By Hearing: dramatized ESV Audio Bible on YouTube.
4. Open the Blue Letter Bible in another tab and open to the start of my daily read. Set the version to ESV to match what is being read on the audio in YouTube.
5. Assuming the Simple Auto Scroll is installed on a Chrome browser, I start the auto scroll on the Blue Letter Bible tab and then play the YouTube of the ESV dramatized Bible in the other tab.
6. When my reading is done, I pause the YouTube video. It will start where I left off the next day when I open it.
7. Mark the Bible Reading Tracker when I finish a book. I have shared my copy with anyone who wants to view it. Feel free to download and use it. It’s simple, but it works and helps you remember what you’ve read if you jump around like I do.
When you stop the YouTube video, it will remember your starting place the next time you load it, so you can pick up right where you left off.
So, this is it. It’s not too complicated, but it works for me. If you try this, let me know how it works for you. Also, feel free to share tips that work for you. And if you have any questions about this at all, feel free to IM me and I will help as much as I can.
May God bless each of you as you strive to let His Word dwell in you richly.
Links Used:
Chrome:
https://www.google.com/chrome/
Simple Auto Scroll: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/simple-auto-scroll/dccjkemhmffnljlnnoffljpkhkfpldff
Faith Comes By Hearing dramatized ESV Audio Bible: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLp_jt3uit3qE440z3KWoT1XmPRdTs2d-N
Blue Letter Bible:
https://www.blueletterbible.org/
Bible Reading Tracker: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1S557lqhVM8EMg9mbwOfMvyhQjWMHf25SGXo-vsIEYz8/edit?usp=sharing
After finishing 1 Chronicles in my daily Bible reading, I have jumped into 2 Chronicles this morning. Earlier I wrote of David being forbidden by God from building the house of God. That honor would fall to Solomon.
In today’s reading, we see where God was with Solomon and the temple was built just as God had said. In his dedication speech, Solomon harkens back to his father’s desire to build the temple:
“Now it was in the heart of David my father to build a house for the name of the LORD, the God of Israel. But the LORD said to David my father, 'Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.” (2 Chronicles 6:7-8 ESV).
Isn’t that wonderful? Our Good understands what is in our hearts and credits that as good for us. Sometimes, things don’t always work out the way we intend. But the Lord knows our hearts. Sometimes men misunderstand or misconstrue our intentions. But the Lord never does.
While this should bring us great comfort, it should also bring us great warning. For just as the Lord can understand the good intentions of our hearts, as He did with King David, so can He understand the evil intentions of our hearts as well.
We may be able to put on a good show and fool the people around us, but we cannot fool God. While God is quick to praise and reward the good intentions of our hearts, so is He quick to lay bare the evil intentions of our hearts as well.
We can fool our neighbors. They may not always be able to ascribe the good in our hearts to us. But God never misunderstands or is fooled. The good in our heart is always before Him as is the evil.
Let us praise God that He will always look at our heart and not only at our outcomes. We have 100% control over what is in our hearts, but not our outcomes. And God will remember the intentions of the heart. When Jesus later came, He made this focus on a clean heart the mainstay of His new Kingdom.
Just a reminder... we are all one day closer to the return of Jesus.