Grace Changes People
In the book of Luke, many people grumbled when Jesus
befriended Zacchaeus. They wanted justice! After all, he
had stolen! He had been ripping off the city’s people for
years. You can almost hear them can’t you? “He’s stolen so
much money from me. And Jesus goes and befriends him and
that makes it all okay? What about my money?”
What these people didn’t realize, is that grace is more
than something to receive. It’s the most powerful change
agent there is!
You’ve heard the story... Zacchaeus didn’t
stop at belief in Jesus. He didn’t stop at remorse. The
book of Luke records that after spending a few hours with
Jesus, Zacchaeus proclaimed, “’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.’”
When Jesus befriends each one of us, He does a lot more
than that, doesn’t He? He changes us from the inside out.
And a true salvation results in the desire to right our
wrongs, to make restitution inasmuch as we are able. How
have you righted the wrongs you committed before
conversion? It’s beautiful to receive grace as a free gift.
But that grace should be working in us to change us. And it
should reveal itself by action! What wrongs do you need to
make right to better reach your world?