Luke 19:5-10(NRSV)
5 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.” 6 So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him. 7 All who saw it began to grumble and said, “He has gone to be the guest of one who is a sinner.” 8 Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord, “Look, half of my possessions, Lord, I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will pay back four times as much.” 9 Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
Jesus Christ had come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance (Luke 5:32). He invited the sinners because He knew that sins make them weary and burdened, and He wants to give them rest from these because of sinning ( Matthew 11:28). And nobody could stop sinning without the wisdom and love for GOD. Jesus invited Zacchaeus and the like to come to Him as they are but don’t ‘stay as they are’ to gain salvation.
‘Don’t stay as you are’ does not only mean to change into a different person, from being bad to good. It means to transform and conform to the image of Jesus, to become holy because GOD is holy (1 Peter 1:16). Jesus as the exact representation of the Father is holy, so He showed Himself to us through His Son so that we could be Christian, truly Christ-like. Romans 8:29 says, “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.” So ‘staying not as you are’ or ‘shifting to holiness’ is hard and impossible to us. This transformation cannot be attained without the Almighty GOD through the Helper, The Holy Spirit. As sinners, we do not fully know yet the holiness of Jesus Christ to conform to. Because Jesus is now sitting at the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19), we can only know Him by His Words in the Holy Scriptures through repentance and humility asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to us the deepest secrets of GOD about His begotten Son (1 Cor 2:10-16). And in the end, everyone’s spiritual transformation is credited to Jesus Name for the glory of GOD.
As human as we are, this scarlet to snow transformation is impossible for us without GOD.
Isaiah 1:18-20 says,
18 Come now, let us argue it out,
says the Lord:
though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be like snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.
19 If you are willing and obedient,
you shall eat the good of the land;
20 but if you refuse and rebel,
you shall be devoured by the sword;
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
So let’s come to Jesus as we are, for He said in John 6:37, “Everyone whom the Father gives me will come to me, and the one who comes to me I will never send away.” 1 Peter 4:3 mentioned that we have already spent enough time in doing what the Gentiles like to do, living in licentiousness, passions, drunkenness, revels, carousing, and lawless idolatry. We have to ask forgiveness for these all excesses of wild living and stop sinning.
Next is surrendering ourselves to Jesus to begin His work in us that He will continue to perform until the day of the Lord (Phil 1:6). Jesus, in order to make us holy, He will continue to cleanse us with the washing of water by the word, so as to present us, (the church) to Himself in splendor, without a spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind—yes, so that she may be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:26-27). Washing by the Word means we have to study, meditate, and have fellowship with the Word of GOD. For Jesus had said in John 15:3, “ You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 reiterates, “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new.” 1 Corinthians 6:11 confirmed, “And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
Lastly, “We have to have put off the old man with its practices and be clothed with the new man that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it.”( Colossians 3:9-10) “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be NOT conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2)
2 Timothy 2:22 advised us, “Flee from youthful passions. Instead, pursue righteousness, faithfulness, love, and peace together with those who call on the Lord with a pure heart.” While there’s time now, bend your knees and pray for forgiveness of your sins through the blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of GOD who take the sin of the world, repent by not sinning anymore and submit passionately to instructions of Jesus through the Word of GOD, always thanking and glorifying GOD for finally you are not ‘staying as you are’. AMEN
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