Wednesday—August 30•Willing to Get on the Other Guy’s Turf When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. (Luke 19:5–6) When Jesus’ called His disciples to “follow,” He basically invited them to come onto His turf. 19 tells us Zacchaeus climbed a tree to get a glimpse of Jesus over top the crowd. Noticing him, Jesus beckoned and said, “Come on down, because I want to accompany you to your house!” Jesus communicated this: I love you enough to meet you on your own turf, because I want you to know the truth about who I am. We need to imitate that attitude, and be willing to get on another guy’s turf, even if it’s inconvenient. to see instead that they are lost. They might not admit it right away, but many are angry or fearful or overwhelmed or disillusioned, in a way that invites a positive response. MIMBS 7 44 But Zacchaeus wasn’t one of Jesus’ disciples. In fact, he was a hated tax collector. Luke Part of that happens when we begin to look past the façade that men present to the world, and they won’t reach out to Jesus till someone comes to them and demonstrates God’s love Name one man in your life who might be your “Zacchaeus.” List three ways you might be able to meet him in the environment where he is comfortable. Which one of those three possibilities will you try first? Daily Reading: Job 34:1–36:33, 2 Corinthians 4:1–12, Psalm 44:1–8, Proverbs 22:10–12 Thursday—August 31•Like Sheep Without a Shepherd When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. (Matthew 9:36) Our culture emphasizes personal responsibility, especially with men. We tell guys, “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Take care of your own stuff.” Cultures certainly don’t work very well if a whole bunch of people aren’t willing to take care of their own stuff and everybody else has to clean up the resulting economic, social, legal or political mess. Life is better when everyone obeys traffic laws and pays their own bills, right? But when we take that ideal of personal responsibility into the spiritual world, we create disaster, because that’s not the gospel of grace. We need to see people the way Jesus does. He says they are harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He responded with compassion. That’s what drove Him to seek and save the lost. Jesus told a story illustrating how a true shepherd responds when just one of his hundred sheep is lost (see Luke 15:1–7). The shepherd leaves the 99 and goes after that wandering sheep. When he finds him, he throws that sheep on his back and returns him to the flock. MIMBS 7 When you see people as Jesus did, as sheep floundering without a shepherd, how does that impact your desire to reach out to them? Daily Reading: Job 37:1–39:30, 2 Corinthians 4:13–5:10, Psalm 44:9–26, Proverbs 22:13
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