Casting
Away Stones – Ecclesiastes 3
Week
6 – Ecclesiastes 3:6
Day
One: Seeking, searching, and being wholly savable
Day
Two: Losing the lost, a prodigal season
Day
Three: Keeping the younger version of myself
Day
Four: Casting
away, a lesson on change
Day
Five: God of the waiting
Heart
verse:
“Let
us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may
receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews
4:16
Day
1 – Seeking, searching, and being wholly savable
Let's
open to our Ecclesiastes passage first, so we are literally on the
same page, Ecclesiastes 3:6 -
“a
time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time
to cast away;”
Today
we're going to seek. :)
Zaccheus...he
was a wee little man. I relate to Zaccheus, as only another short
person can. People my whole life have been identifying for me that I
am short. Thank you, keepers of all obvious things.
The
Bible tells us Zaccheus was short, not to torture the poor man, but
so that we can recognize just how badly he wanted to see Jesus. I
have been there. Baptized as a small infant, I had the benefit of the
Holy Spirit welling up in me since tininess. I was buried and risen
with Christ in the waters. Like Zaccheus, I heard about Jesus. I
heard He did miraculous things. I heard He cared. I heard He forgave.
I am forever grateful to my parents, my pastors, and so many others
in my life who walked me through the stories of Scripture and built
and planted and tended my faith. I believed and do believe 100%. It
isn't a belief problem.
But
at some point in young adult life, I realized I believed in Jesus,
but I wanted a closer look. I wrestled and climbed every tree
I could find to see if God was walking down the road on the other
side. Doubt for me as a prodigal, like so many others, wasn't about
losing my faith or walking away. It was about wondering whether I was
wholy lovable or even worth the effort. I knew Jesus gave me
redemption, a free gift, but could He redeem my past? Could He redeem
each sin? Could He redeem all the places where I had stolen, and
pretended, and forfeited everything that I claimed to be dear?
I
wonder if this is where Zaccheus was?
Read
Luke 19:1-10 -
He
entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a
man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was
rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was,
but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in
stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore
tree to see him, for he was about to pass that way. And when
Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus,
hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.” So
he hurried and came down and received him joyfully. And when
they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the
guest of a man who is a sinner.” And Zacchaeus stood and said
to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the
poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore
it fourfold.” And Jesus said to him,“Today salvation
has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For
the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Jesus
tells us a few really important things about Himself in this passage.
And that's the business we are about – seeking Him.
#1
- “I must stay at your house today.”
Jesus
wants to stay. He wants to stay with Zaccheus and He wants to stay
with us. We are worth staying with. I don't have to question it,
because He tells me it over and over again in Scripture. Read the
following Scripture passages and highlight what in these passages
reminds you that you are a worthy place for Jesus, not just to visit,
but to stay.
Jeremiah
31:2-3
Thus says the Lord:
“The
people who survived the sword
found grace
in the wilderness;
when Israel sought for
rest,
the Lord appeared
to him from far away.
I have loved you with an everlasting
love;
therefore I have continued my
faithfulness to you.
John
17:23
I
in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so
that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even
as you loved me.
1
John 3:1
See what
kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called
children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does
not know us is that it did not know him.
2
Corinthians 4:6
For
God, who said, “Let
light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to
give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ.
Jesus
wanted to stay with Zaccheus, not because he was perfect. Not because
he had it all figured out. Zaccheus didn't even make any promises for
rectifying his untoward indebtedness until after Jesus came to
stay with him. Jesus loves Zaccheus, reaches out His hand, and tells
him, “You are worth my time. Worth my energy. Let's figure this out
together.”
#2
- “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
Ok,
so Jesus didn't say it, but those around Him give us the pleasure of
a small window into Jesus with their statement here, and Jesus saw it
to be worthy of recording. God-breathed Scripture didn't leave it
out.
“He
has gone...”
You
can hear the gasping of the Saturday Night Live church lady.
“Sinners??!!”
I
have no patience for pointing and sin labeling. Jesus calls it like
it is, but He doesn't heap on shame in the process.
In
Matthew 5:46, Jesus tells us with His own words -
“For
if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even
the tax collectors do the same?”
What
reward is in loving those without sin? Those who fulfill all our
desires for us? Those who never sin against us? Jesus was talking
hard stuff here. “Why wouldn't I eat with sinners?” is Jesus's
response throughout Scripture. There is “reward” in giving to a
relationship that isn't perfect. Where the people aren't just giving
to you, but you are filling and giving as well. There will be
heartache. Yes. There will be struggle. Yes, but there will be a life
shared, and that, is infinitely better than fake perfection in
relationship.
Jesus,
himself, loves us in our sin. Don't mistake, he doesn't love sin. But He doesn't love me more as I confess. He loves me the
same, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We draw closer to Him in our
confession and as we experience absolution, but chief of sinners
though I be, He loved me in the
beginning. He'll love me at the end. He loves me in the middle.
#3
- “The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.”
And
here is the crux of the matter. This is how seeking works. Jesus- He
seeks. Continually pursuing. Sending people and words into our life
that guide us perpetually back to Him. He saves us as lost and
condemned sinners. He saves us as we grow and learn throughout our
life. He saves us in our darkest, and in our days full of light.
We
seek Jesus because He loves us and that Spirit of Love rises up in
us. We can also tamp it down. But when you read these stories of real
people in Scripture, you begin to see and understand and rest in who
Jesus is. You want to know Him more and more and more. You can't stop
seeking Him. It's never enough Him.
Because
He seeks us, we can be fully confident in ever seeking Him.
I'll
leave you with this week's heart verse, Hebrews 4:16 -
“Let
us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may
receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
Approach
the throne. Soak in the mercy. Seek some grace. Embrace the help.
He
loves you. Keep seeking, sister. You are fully and wholly found.
Discussion
questions:
Take
a look at Luke 15. Which one of these “Lost” parables do you most
relate to?
Read
Luke 15:1 again – who was drawing near to Jesus? Highlight it. Over
and over again in Scriptures, He invites people in to draw near.
Tell
us about a Bible passage or a person in your life that made you want
to know more about Jesus.
Labels: grace, Jesus, seek
