Obedient Tree Climbing

Last week I told you about my conversation with God about Zacchaeus and climbing a tree. I admitted at that moment I would not have climbed the tree. This morning John Perron and I have been discussing that statement, and he brought up some really important things that need to be addressed and made clear.

First, when the Lord asked me if I would climb the tree, it was not God Almighty telling me to climb the tree. It was a question between friends. "So, let's say Jesus is coming into town, and if you climb this tree, you might see Him. No guarantees, but you might. Would you climb the tree?"

Long conversation summarized, "No. I don't think I would because here is the thing. You and the kids are all I have. I don't have anyone but you, and right now, we feel a million miles apart, and I don't know why. I have climbed every metaphorical tree I know to climb. I have sincerely tried to find you, and I feel like that isn't happening, so right now at this moment, if I climbed that tree hoping to find you and didn't, I would be crushed."

That is where I was at that moment, and no God wasn't mad. He didn't respond with wrath. Instead, He kept talking, kept asking questions and answering them. Like I told John, He was never harsh. It was more like, "I know this is where you are, but this is not us, and it isn't okay." And it wasn't "not okay" because His ego was hurt or because He is God and who did I think I was mouthing to God? It wasn't okay but that really isn't who we are. We have such intense intimacy, and something had gone wrong, which led to that point. That statement wasn't the problem. That statement was caused by the problem, and that was not okay.

Now, after really great conversation and understanding, we are back to being us, only better.

But John brought up another interpretation of the question and answer that needs to be addressed.

He interpreted it as God saying, "Will you climb the tree if I tell you to?" and I replied, "No. I wouldn't."

Y'all, that is blatant rebellion. That is stepping onto the slippery slope of apostasy. It may not look like a big deal, but any time a person knows the absolute will of God and refuses it, they have just broken faith. They have chosen to turn their hearts to stone (Isaiah), and they have become "stiff-necked", stubborn and unwilling to be led. Until a person repents of that, the relationship with God suffers in huge ways.

Before anyone throws this out, yes, the Bible says nothing can separate us from the love of God. Of course He loves us. He loved us while we were His enemies. John 3:16 says He loved us so much He sent Jesus to die for us so we could choose a relationship with Him and have everlasting life. Please see the obvious here. His love does not save us. Our choice to put our faith in Jesus and serve Him saves us. Our choice to have faith is what allows the relationship in which Jesus becomes our Lord and Savior and the Holy Spirit can lead us. When we choose to ignore God's commands and the Spirit's leading, we damage the relationship. How can He be God to someone who won't serve Him? How can the Spirit lead someone who ignores Him?

When God says to climb a tree, the answer is always, "Yes." Period. How I feel or what I think is utterly irrelevant. The only thing relevant is my relationship with God. The only thing relevant is HE IS GOD.

John said it was put upon him to say to the group last week, "Don't ever tell me you won't climb a tree." I totally agree with that. At one time, I used absolutes, but I have learned absolutes are really pride, arrogance, and the determination to have my way. None of that has any place in a Christian.

Don't misunderstand. I still have my desires and my opinions and the way I want things to go, but I have learned not to say I "won't" or "would never" or any such form. I have on many occasions said, "The only way I would do that is if God said I have to," and sometimes He does, so I do. That is the reality of serving God.

Like I told John this morning, we need to be reminded we are servants, not entitled.

Being a Christian isn't a potluck dinner where we get to pick and choose what we want and what we'll do. We are the bride of Christ. How many people think a husband or wife has the right to all the privileges of being a spouse (shared income, housing, friendship, intimacy, sex) until something else comes along that piques their interest or hormones and if that happens, they can just set aside that "spouse" title to sleep with whomever or dishonor their supposed loved one in conversation with friends or just flat ignore them because they aren't convenient? Where in the marriage vows are we given the right to step in and out of the sacred covenant we make as a spouse because we don't like the responsibility or we want to do something totally selfish that breaks the covenant? That kind of thinking totally offends the typical Christian, or at least it should. So why is the mindset that it is okay to step in and out of covenant with God depending on what is convenient, easy, and serves us so prevalent?

See, when God tells you to climb a tree so you can get close to Him, He is telling you, "I'm your beloved. This is what it takes to deepen our relationship," and as the bride, your answer is always, "That is what I want. Deeper relationship with you."

Frankly, if you can say anything else, you need to have a long talk with Him about your commitment to the relationship, and you need to get some things straightened out because obedience should never be considered optional no matter how high the tree is you have to climb.

To Climb the Tree or To Not Climb the Tree. When that is the Question...

I told you earlier this week that we studied Zacchaeus in RCIA class' lectio divina. I can't really explain what lectio divina is. I thought it was like when Protestants read a passage, pray for the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth the Lord wants that specific person to hear, and the person meditates on that passage until the Lord speaks. However, I was told I was wrong, so no clue what it really is in the Catholic realm, but, I did the Protestant thing.

Anyway, in class we had a good discussion. Okay, it was pretty predictable, actually. It was about judgment of others, Zacchaeus' willing to look stupid to see Christ, salvation, Jesus knowing Zacchaeus' name when He walked up to the tree. Pretty predictable. At least it was until I shared my part.

Like I shared with you earlier this week, the Lord spoke to me about how people only find their value in Him, and once they realize their value in Him, the things that used to be their definers aren't important anymore.

But for me there was something else.

A question.

Every time I read this passage and prayed for the Lord to speak, I heard simply,

"Would you have climbed the tree?"

In case you don't know, the religiously correct answer is, "Yes, I would have definitely climbed that tree to see Jesus." I am rarely, if ever, accused of being religiously correct, and I answered honestly.

"No, I would not have climbed the tree. Not today. Because today, it feels like it doesn't matter if I climb a tree or not. If you want to find me, you'll find me. If you don't, you won't. Being in a tree or not being in a tree won't matter."

In fact, on that particular day, nothing seemed to matter.

Now, I realize none of the rest of you ever, EVER feel that way.
None of you ever feel like the desires of your heart don't matter.
None of you ever feel like your prayers haven't made a difference up till now and they won't make a difference now.
None of the rest of you have ever looked at the altar at the front of your church or the prayer ministers waiting to pray with you or heard someone ask how they can pray for you and thought, "It doesn't matter. Climbing that tree won't make a difference, so why bother."

But just in case one of you might have possibly known someone who could have had that thought once, let me share some things I'm doing that is helping me win the war of the tree.

First, I confessed. I confessed to God that I was mad at Him. I know. You are probably mortified and thinking I have no right to be mad at God. No. I don't, but I was. I was mad that He has made promises that He has confirmed repeatedly, promises that I want so badly, that have not come to pass. Years have passed, and they haven't come to pass, and I was angry.

Second, I quit comparing myself to Abraham. Seriously. Yes, Abraham waited a long time for Isaac, but in the meantime, he had Ishmael. I used to look at that and wonder how in the world someone who had a clear word from God could be so stupid. I now know. He wasn't stupid. He was empty. He and Sarah both were empty, and they found a road to fulfillment that could rationalize and ran hard and fast down it. The Bible never says that Abraham was mad at God, and we know he believed God and God credited that to him as righteousness, but Abraham got tired. When he got tired, the empty pulled him in. None of us are perfect.

Third, I have been praying specifically for strength in my mind, heart, soul, and body to climb the tree. We are told to serve the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength. Obviously I'm missing at least one of those, so I confessed that, too, and asked the Lord to meet me in my weakness and be strong in and through me. I pray this every morning.

Fourth, I pray for the Lord to tell me what "tree" I need to climb to see Him. Here is what I mean. Zacchaeus climbed the tree because he couldn't see Jesus from where he was. I have been praying for God to show me exactly what I need to do to get from where I am where I don't or can's see Jesus to the point where I can see Jesus. Believe it or not, the answer is primarily prayer time. The very thing I told God seemed to make no difference in whether I see Jesus is making a huge difference in how I feel about climbing the tree.

Fifth, I pulled out my prayer cards again. I have maybe 100 prayer cards with verses that I pray and meditate on. Not all of them in one sitting, but right now, I have 30 or so cards I read every morning and pray from the scripture on them. For instance, one of the cards is about Blind Barnabus who was on the side of the road and Jesus went by. When Barnabus heard it was Christ, he started yelling, "Son of David, have mercy on me." Jesus called him to Him, and Barnabus threw off his cloak and went to Jesus. When Jesus asked what he wanted, Barnabus asked for his sight, and Jesus gave it to him. When that card comes up, I pray that:

• The Lord would show me places I am blind to Him and the way I could help others.
• I would throw off any thing, like a beggar's robe, that might keep me where I am instead of being healed from anything He desires to change in me for His glory
• I would never be embarrassed to call on Him even when everyone was looking, pointing fingers, and thinking I was totally unworthy of His gifts, blessings, and kindness
• I would be bold in calling out to Him what I need.

Why the prayer cards? Because I have covenanted with God to pray them everyday no matter how I feel. That does not make them a ritual. Only a hard, cold heart makes prayer a ritual. They are my discipline. Discipline means to train someone for the purpose of becoming something. This prayer routine trains me to pray with faith despite emotion or circumstance. It is training my mind to think in faith, not in what my human eyes see.

Finally, well, it's more what God does than what I do, but when I get frustrated and say, "It doesn't matter," He responds with, "How can you ever say you don't matter to me?" And honestly, His tone is not all compassion and warm fuzzies, and it shouldn't be. He has a right to be offended by the accusation that I don't matter to Him, that He has a heart of stone toward me, that He could ever not find me important. That really is what that statement is saying. "I don't matter to you. Our relationship doesn't matter to you. You keeping your word and being faithful to your word doesn't matter to you. My empty place that aches doesn't matter...because you are a bad Father." Let's be real here. When we tell God we don't matter, we are telling Him He is a bad Father. Only a heartless, bad father doesn't care about His children. Only a self-centered father doesn't think his children are important. That is not our God.

So when He corrects me and asks, "How can you ever say you don't matter to me?", I stop and say, "Of course I matter. Of course I am important to you." I don't say these things in lip service. I say them with conviction, and I meditate on the truth of them. I let them soak deep into me. I let my mind be transformed and my thinking changed. I start thinking like He does. I'm important. I matter.

Is all of that making a difference?

This morning I had a few things for which I had prayed for specific outcomes, and the exact opposite occurred. So I got my coffee and a blanket, went outside to the rocking chair on the deck and said, "I choose to climb the ladder anyway. Lord, show me how."

The most wildly beautiful part in all this: I told God it didn't matter if I climbed the ladder or not. If He wanted to find me, He would...and He did...because I really do matter.

May you find Him...when you climb the tree...and especially when you are so weary that you can't climb the tree, may He find you.

Shalom.

Valuable Enough to be Found

In our Bible study class this week we are looking at the story of Zacchaeus.

Here is the story for those who don't know it.

Luke 19
Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. ² Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. ³ And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. ⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. ⁵ And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him,^[a] and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” ⁶ So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully. ⁷ But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, “He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner.”
⁸ Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.”
⁹ And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; ¹⁰ for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

I've read this story since I was a little kid. I can still sing the song. I know this story. It's not complicated. Jesus, who has become THE celebrity is coming into town, and this short tax collector who is shunned by everyone and hated because he is a tax collector climbs a tree to see Jesus. Jesus walks right up to the tree and tells Zacchaeus to come down because He plans to have dinner with him that night. The short legal thief does what he is told. Jesus goes home with him, and Zacchaeus proclaims that he is giving away a bunch of money as a result. Jesus declares salvation to Zacchaeus as a result.

Simple story. Except it is so simple it gets tripped over.

I was taught that Zaccharus gets granted salvation because he proved his sincerity to Christ. No. If Jesus only declared Zacchaeus saved because he gave away money to prove his sincerity, then that would be earning his salvation. That isn't how Christ works. And honestly, that kind of sensationalism isn't going to last because that is based on the euphoria of the moment. Jesus would have known Zacchaeus' heart and would never have declared salvation to a dram king. So something else had to have happened.

The key isn't what Zacchaeus did. It's why he did it.

See, there is this tax collector who has economic power. He can add fees to the taxes collected. He can be cruel in the ways he enforces tax collection. He can be as ruthless and heartless as they come, and for some people, that power defines them. It means they are valuable. They are valuable because of the power over people, and they are valuable because of the money they can make from it. This guy has position, power, and money...and no real life. The Romans don't care for him. He is only a pion. The Jews hate him. And where does that really leave him? Up in a tree...with only the hope of a glimpse of true celebrity because there is no way a religious celebrity was going to pay any attention to him.

Except He did.

Can you imagine being Zacchaeus up in that tree searching for just the head of the celebrity you are waiting for when you see this massive crowded moving in some way as those it is water crashing upon the bottom of the tree where you are, and suddenly, there at the base of the tree a face looks up at you. THE face looks up at you and says, "Hey, come down and let's go have dinner at your place."

In other words, "I've come to this point just to see you, and I know no one else would be caught dead in your presence or in your house unless they need something from you, but I've come because you need something from Me."

What Jesus was really saying, "You are valuable to me. In fact, you are so valuable to me, I'll risk being a celebrity and being on the front page of every gossip magazine just to be with you."

I don't think Zacchaeus responded by saying, "Lord, look! I'm so different that I'm going to do all this good stuff. Aren't you impressed?" I don't think it was a haughty man who spoke to Jesus. I think it was a humbled one who said, "Lord, Lord, I get it. I give half of everything I own to people who need it because they are valuable. I will make recompense for how I have cheated people because relationship is more important than gold. I get that I'm valuable, not because of what I own, but because of You. I'm valuable because You chose me."

And did you notice that Zacchaeus wasn't offended when Jesus said He had come to seek and save the lost? A proud person would look at themselves and be sorry they had to be found or saved, and honestly, I don't think they would be saved because they are not humble to receive the truth that they cannot fix themselves. However, when a person realizes their only value is in the value placed on them by Christ, they realize that being sought and found is a declaration of value. It is a clear demonstration of how loved they are.

God so loved--so valued--the world that He gave His only Son that whoever should believe in Him--not their own ability to be good or holy--should not perish but have everlasting life.

When Zacchaeus climbed that tree, maybe he was looking for a celebrity. Maybe he was looking for someone bigger than himself. What he found was just how important he was, and that had nothing to do with money and position, and everything to do with Jesus.