?☕ BIBLE BREAKFAST (#355) 03/14/20 (English)
“A dangerous tomorrow…”
Luke 19:5 “And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.'”
▪️There are a number of areas in our life where God’s word calls us not to hurry, to be slow, which will allow us not to make unnecessary mistakes and to avoid doing something improperly: “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” (James 1:19)
▪️ “Measure 7 times, cut once”- they say. In other words, we should be slow to speak. Don’t be quick to say something; first think it through and then say it. “If you’ll be in a hurry, you’ll make people laugh”- it is said in a proverb.
▪️But there are those areas of life where being slow is considered dangerous: “Then He said to them, ‘O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!'” (Luke 24:25) where God calls us to be quick so we won’t be too late.
▪️When Lot and his family were lingering and not understanding what will happen in the next few minutes with Sodom and Gomorrah, the angels of God were forced to take them by the hand so they could quickly save them: “And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hand’s of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out set him outside the city.” (Genesis 19:16)
▪️Every time we are talking about salvation, God calls people to not be too late, not to linger, where every second is important in life.
▪️Maybe you have had to hear about situations when in some kind of critical moment doctors have said to their patients: “you came right on time” or “we got to you on time. If you would have waited, we wouldn’t have been able to save you”…
▪️It’s unfortunate, but many people will die without recieving God’s gift of salvation and only becuase they didn’t do this in time. They lingered and were not quick to answer to God’s call: “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
▪️They have heard this many times, they have had the opportunity to deal with this question with God, the question of salvation. God has repeatedly and variously “knocked” in their lives, but they “stretched”, lingered, did not hurry, they were saying “I have time, it’s not my time yet, I will still come to God, I will still repent, I have time, soon, but not right now” and so on. But they didn’t have time, they were too late.
▪️The fault in being slow: “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 25:25)…
▪️Our life is not in our hands because when we hear God’s voice speaking into our lives, God’s call, God’s knock in various ways whether it’s salvation or service to God, we cannot be slow in answering. This is fraught with losses that cannot be brought back: “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear” (James 1:19)
▪️Jesus stopped underneath the Sycamore tree which Zacchaeus climbed up wanting to see Christ. He stopped and spoke to Zacchaeus: “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”
▪️Zacchaeus could have refused: “Jesus I’m not ready. I was planning to have guests over. I hope you aren’t here for the last time. Let’s do it another time.”
▪️Jesus said: “make haste and come down”, Jesus said: “today I must stay at your house”. Zacchaeus understood that he can’t mess around with this, you can’t put this aside, you need to hurry.
▪️That is why it is written in this same story: “So he made haste and came down, and recieved Him joyfully” (Luke 19:6). If you read the gospel, you will know what happened next.
▪️In Zacchaeus’s house there was a celebration. Salvation happened, the gift of God was accepted- everlasting life, Zacchaeus and his family repented and were saved: “Today salvation has come to this house” (Luke 19:9)- said Jesus.
▪️Do not be late when you hear the voice of God and His call upon your life. Do not be late in coming to Him with repentance, do not be late to do what God has called you to do. Do not be late! “Tomorrow” may be dangerous…
▪️ “I have too many things to do, I have work, I’m too busy”, or “I’m still young, I have time”, or “I will do it but not right now, later”- unfortunately, these are all things we hear people say when God is calling them saying “make haste and come down”. God sees and knows our days even more than we do.
▪️ “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.” (Hebrews 4:1)- His rest, His salvation, His calling, serving Him.
? Have a good day! Do not be slow when God is calling. Do not leave it for later, for tomorrow. Tomorrow is not in our power, like one poet: plans for tomorrow that are hidden in a fog, one year flies after the other. But what if tomorrow takes us and cheats us? And tomorrow never comes? (With prayer, Valeriy Bayko).
? P.S. If needed, share this with others. Thank you for the re-post. (If you have a comment or a question, you may type it below this post or write to me at vkbayko@gmail.com)