FROM THE DAWGHOUSE…
At our men’s Bible study this morning, on fatherhood, one of the key subject matters was unconditional love. Do you have it with your kids? Your family? Did your father and mother give you unconditional love?
As I was sitting at my table with a mix of young and older guys, I couldn’t help but think of Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was fascinated with Jesus. Perhaps he was awed by how easily Jesus drew people to Himself, or maybe he just saw in Jesus an opportunity for personal wholeness.
As Jesus moved through the crowds, He saw Zacchaeus up in a tree. But Jesus saw more than that. He saw a human being, unloved, unloving, bruised and hurt by the circumstances of life, unsuited to his wealth…unacceptable to himself. Sound a little bit familiar at all? In you, or someone you know? Perhaps your boys?
Jesus then did the unexpected, the dramatic. He invited Himself to Zacchaeus’s house for a meal. Jesus’ acceptance of this shriveled little man so overwhelmed Zacchaeus that he repented on the spot and promised a changed lifestyle. “Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Jesus responded with a statement of affirmation and forgiveness that reinstated Zacchaeus not only with God, but with his community: “Today salvation has come to this house.” What a great transformation! A transformation that only unconditional love can deliver. This man, so rejected by others and himself, found a new acceptance of himself and with God and others.
As we read accounts of Jesus working with a great variety of people, I challenge you and I to courageously talk to Jesus as you would with any human being. Tell him your needs and ask him to bring about in you the same feelings of love and acceptance that you see taking place in the people of the New Testament. THEN, make a commitment to pass that same love, unconditionally, on to your wife, your sons, your daughters, your family, your friends.
Today, pray for the power to love those around you…to break through the damning bigotry, the crippling prejudices we hold, the stifling self-centeredness that seems to smother God’s spirit within us, and to channel and communicate divine love to lonely, loveless people around us. To pray for the ability to translate the message of God’s eternal love into words that will pierce the minds of busy men and move their hearts to faith and obedience.
Love you guys!!
– Joseph Bouch
