The Journey 30: Transformation in my life

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Read; Luke 19: 1-10
Key Verse: Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labour in vain, Unless the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stand guard in vain [ Psalms 127:1]
I know  a person who is  very upset because the real estate business in US is now going through a lean patch. He is neither a realtor nor someone who is interested in doing business in housing and finance. When I asked him for the reason for his sadness, he said that, when the real estate business was in full boom, the market value of his house was about a million dollar, but now with the lean patch the market value of his house has come down drastically. But then I asked him whether he was contemplating of selling the house for which he said no. “Then why are you upset if the market value of your house has come down when you don't  intend to sell it” I asked. For this he replied, that “ Achen, I use to experience a mental and emotional pleasure  thinking that I reside in a house that is of such and such value. But with the value of my house coming down, I don't get that same emotional and mental satisfaction now.
What gives you satisfaction when you think of your home? Is your satisfaction related to its material worth?. How is your home related to the personal transformation that needs to happen in our life?. This month on Monday’s we meditate on transformation in our personal life based on the encounter between the Jesus Christ and Zacheus mentioned in gospel of Luke 19. One of the strange things that happened in the encounter between Jesus Christ and Zacheus is that when Jesus sees Zacheus sitting on the sycamore tree he tells him to come down and then puts a strange request to Zacheus “I am going to come to your house today’. Why should Jesus take pain to go to the house of Zacheus? Cant he do his ministry at the place that He met Zacheus?. Certain action of Jesus tend to be very strange, but I feel behind each strange action there is something that our Lord is teaching us and is trying to teach Zacheus.  My conception is that as people tend to become rich their happiness lies more on possessing material things and finding a unique mental and emotional pleasure by just looking at those things. You will have numerous house that will boast of the best dinner sets of the world, the best French drinking glasses but all these kept in the showcase. When guest come they take pride in showing all their costly kitchen ware. You have house where people have laid wonderful and costly carpets and hence because of the cost of the carpet, they don't want others or a big group of people to come to their houses. Today you have people who are not willing to organize a prayer meeting in their house, because their carpet will become dirty. I think Zacheus may also have been a person like that, who took pride in exhibiting his richness, his property and all that he owned through unjust means. But here is Jesus coming to his house and I am sure along with Jesus he would also had the presence of his disciples, consciously breaking into a home to show Zacheus that the real value of home is found only when you allow people come to your house and enjoy prayer, relationship and fellowship. This may cause some damage to your carpets, some plates or some drinking glasses may be broken. Children who come for the fellowship may dirty your home…..These are all part of fellowship. But there is a joy when our house is open for our Lord, for our community of believers. Of what use is your furniture in your home, if Jesus cant sit there, what is the use of your home if Jesus is not allowed to enter into your home?. Let us not just hung a picture of Jesus in our home and think that our Lord is present in our home.
Value of ones home is determined on whether we allow Jesus Christ to reside in our homes, and when that happens place transformation begins in our life.
 For Further Study: Luke 10:38-42, Acts 2: 42-47

Let us Pray: Lord you gave us a home, but often we pride in the material things in our home rather than the fellowship and relationship that we get when others come to our home. Let our home be a place of relationship and fellowship with others. Amen

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