Are You Willing to Make Changes?
Luke 19:1-10
There is a second thing to be said about Zacchaeus. He was willing to make whatever changes were necessary in order to experience this new life he so craved. Some people want to experience new life but they want to do it on their terms. They want to do it without making any rural changes in their lives. "Next year I'm going to be a changed person.!" Charlie Brown tells Lucy. "That's a laugh , Charlie Brown!' she says. "I mean it!" he replies. "I'm going to be strong and firm!" "Forget it," she says as she walks off. "You'll always be wishy-washy!" "Why can't I change just a little bit?" Charlie Brown asks himself. "I'll be wishy one day ," he shouts, "and washy the next!"
That's the degree of change many of us desire. Rather than wishy-washy we'll just be wishy one day and weather the next. We want life to be better but we want it to happen without any significant action on our part.
William L. Stidgerr in his book, There Are Sermons In Stories, once told about the owner of a small drugstore. For some reason this druggist hated his work., so he spent his mornings looking for something better and his afternoons at the ballpark.
He soon decided it was foolish to leave a business about which he knew something for one which he knew nothing. So he decided to make the best of what he had. He would build up his business by giving the best service possible.
When a customer who lived near would call an order on the telephone, he would repeat each item being ordered and his assistant would fill the order. With the order filled, the owner would keep the customer on the line while the delivery boy dashed out the front door. When the delivery boy reached the customer's house, who was still on the line with the drugstore owner, she would excuse herself for a minute to answer the door. Coming back to the phone she would express great surprise at the quickness with which the order was delivered.
News got around about the drugstore that filled orders so promptly and soon Charles R. Walgreen, founder of the great Walgreen empire. had more business than he could handle. Walgreen said his work was easy like a game and he soon found great joy in what he once despised
Walgreen saw that since he could not change his situation, he would change himself. Many of us want to try it the other way. We want to achieve our dreams without adjusting our deeds. What we are basically searching for is magic. We want to be able to manipulate life without it costing us anything. What Jesus brings is not magic but medicine. There is something sick within the human heart. There was something sick in Zacchaeus. He could not be the same person he had been if he took the Master's medicine. He surely must have realized that. But he was determined and he was willing to change.
What about you? Are you willing to change when needing to do so?
Questions to Ponder
Is there any wishy-washiness in you?
Does your work give you joy?
Is there anything sick in your heart?
Do you need some of Jesus's medicine?
In His Service,
Terry Phillips
