Who Is On The Throne Of Your Life?

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(Excerpted from Cheryl Gnagey's Spiritual Healing:  The Surrender That Brings Victory, Chapter 9)

". . . Flesh never improves.  It has no ability to improve.  It is always in a state of withering  and declining.  The older you get, the more clearly you can see this truth in action.  You need to look no further than Paul's lament in Romans 7.  Paul, the transformed apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ who was responsible for so many of the epistles that teach us today, soundly judged his own flesh (and ours as well) when he wrote this:

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.  (Romans 7:18)

When we continue to follow our flesh, we allow its sinful and selfish ways to maintain control of our lies.  We become the god of our lives when we allow our own flesh to sit on the throne upon which the Spirit is to be sitting.  When we are the god of our own life and heart, we continue doing what we want to do.  In this state, we are unwilling to yield to the very God we clung to for our salvation."

The world does not revolve around us.  To live as if it does, from moment to moment, is to live by the desires of our flesh.  In those moments and situations when we are living selfishly, we are on the throne of our heart, not God.  Which of the three diagrams is the true picture of your heart?  Does Christ reside inside or outside of you?  Is He in you, but your are in full control of your life?  Or is Christ not only in you, but on the throne, orchestrating the particulars of your day, every day?  There is only one model which is a picture of righteous living--sanctification. 

THE RESURRECTED LIFE -- Day 25

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Day 25:  Zaccheus, the Tax Collector

As Jesus was heading toward Jerusalem, He had to pass through Jericho.  A hush came over those who were on the street that day as they looked to the horizon and saw the Man coming whom they had heard so much about. 

Zaccheus had just made a tax collection from one of the street venders when the hubbub began.  Straining to see over the crowd, Zaccheus became frustrated again by his stature.  It had always plagued him and humiliated him.  But he was rich and he had great power over those whom he was charged to collect from.  Maybe his greed had become his compensation for his lack of height. 

Knowing that he would never get a glimpse of the Man, Zaccheus ran ahead and climbed into a sycamore tree.   Perching in the tree was just fine with Zaccheus.  He had heard that this Jesus seemed to know things He couldn’t possibly know.  Yes, the tree would do just fine.  He would see Jesus, but maybe Jesus wouldn’t be able to see him—or his cheating, selfish, tax-collecting ways that had made him so wealthy.

“Here He comes.  He doesn’t look like a god.  He looks like a man to me,” Zaccheus mused to himself.  But as he was, Jesus stopped right in front of the tree and looked up—right into Zaccheus’ fearful eyes.  Zaccheus had never been so terrified.  What would Jesus say to him or about him?

“Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house,” were the words that broke the uncomfortable silence.  Out of sheer relief Zaccheus scrambled out of the tree and received Jesus’ invitation to entertain Him that night.  Conviction ripped at Zaccheus’ heart, and he boldly proclaimed his sin of defrauding the people out of more money than he was owed.  Half of all he had he pledged to the poor, and to all he had defrauded, he would return four times as much.

Are you trying to hide your sin from Jesus?  When Jesus looks in your heart and reveals your sin, are you willing to let Him in?  Are you willing to make restitution for your sin?  Jesus saved you to seek out your heart.  Will you go the extra mile for the sake of being in the Presence of Jesus?