You’re the Best Thing,
that ever happen to me
As I sat back and reflected this week and thought about what the Lord would have me to share,
What kept coming back to my mind continually, was how incredibly faithful God has been and always is to me.
Sometimes the drama of life, has a tendency to cloud, and or blur our vision as to everything God truly does for all of us.
And if we were to truly know everything that God does for us on a daily basis, it would probably be to much to even comprehend.
Psalms 91:7-11 NKJ
7. A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you.
8. Only with your eyes shall you look,
And see the reward of the wicked.
9. Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
10. No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
11. For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
God is extravagant in everything He does and that includes protecting you,
Romans 11:33-36 MSG.
Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It’s way over our heads. We’ll never figure it out. Is there anyone around who can explain God? Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do? Anyone who has done him such a huge favor that God has to ask his advice? Everything comes from him; Everything happens through him; Everything ends up in him. Always glory! Always praise! Yes. Yes. Yes.
Its amazing isn’t it? that’s how much He Loves you, that’s how much He cares!
A thousand may fall at your side,
And ten thousand at your right hand;
But it shall not come near you,
That would baffle even the most intellectual mind, if they didn’t know Christ.
But for those of us who do know Him, we’ve come to understand it as, His unmerited Favor and Grace that He extends towards us,
Even though we’ve done nothing to deserve it, He makes it continually available to us!
Even before we ever loved Him, He loved us and has been gently guiding us,
Towards the extravagant life, He has already prepared for us!
God spares no expense taking care of His Children, and “Angels Charge” over you, in its plural form means,
Gods promises to His Children, are always bigger than their needs.
And whether He needs to send 10 or 10,000 angels to watch out over you, He has the resources to do it!
I don’t know how anyone could make it, or would want to go through this life without Him, but yet people attempt to do so everyday.
Wondering aimlessly around looking for fulfillment in all the wrong places,
everywhere except where they should be looking,
The bible tells us of many examples that we could use, but the one I want to share today, is found in;
Luke chapter 19:1-10 NKJ
1. 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, 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.”
Ill. There’s a story about a local fitness center, which was offering $1,000 to anyone who could demonstrate that they were stronger than the owner of the place.
Here’s how it worked, this muscle man would squeeze a lemon until all the juice ran into a glass, and then hand the lemon to the next challenger.
Anyone who could squeeze just one more drop of juice out would win the money.
Many people tried over time other weightlifters, construction workers,
even professional wrestlers, but nobody could do it.
One day a short and skinny guy came in and signed up for the contest.
After the laughter died down, the owner grabbed a lemon and squeezed away, then he handed the wrinkled remains to the little man.
The crowd’s laughter turned to silence as the man clenched his fist around the lemon and six drops fell into the glass.
As the crowd cheered, the manager paid out the winning prize and asked the short guy what he did for a living. “Are you a lumberjack, a weightlifter, or what?”
The man replied, “I work for the IRS.”
Zach was exactly that, a tax collector
He may have been small in stature, but he was big on ambition,
He wasn’t any old tax collector either, TBS. he was the chief tax collector, and he was rich
He had done whatever it took, hook and crook, to get to the top of the ladder.
His name in Hebrew means, “pure and righteous,” but his name didn’t have anything to do with the way he carried on in life,
he worked for Roman government and was considered a traitor by the Jewish people.
He was the one who kept the books and sent the collected taxes to Rome, so it was easy for him to skim of the top and became rich by doing so.
notice that while Zack is very wealthy and probably has enough money to buy anything he would ever want, knew something was missing in his life.
Happiness is not found in riches, if you study lottery winners, you will find that they are some of the most miserable people in society.
How many movie stars and other famous people in our lifetimes have we heard that their lives ended way to soon,
And we always think, its so sad how their life ended.
They had all the riches and fame, you would have thought they had it all, only to find out how truly unhappy they were!
Most people today, if they are honest, will eventually admit that there’s more to life than just trying to make money and obtain possessions.
Notice that it doesn’t say that Zack just wanted to see Jesus, He wanted to see who Jesus was.
He wanted to figure out what it was that made Jesus different from everyone else.
He was drawn to the hope and compassion that Jesus had extended to so many others,
he may not have fully understood what was going on in his heart, but Zack had a desperate need to get to Jesus.
And even though, he couldn’t even explain what drew him to see who Jesus was,
he just knew he had to go see Him and that was that.
Though he was determined, he had two obstacles to overcome, his height and his reputation,
No one else wanted to associate with him, because of the way he treated people, would Jesus?
And how would Jesus ever see him over everyone else that was clambering, for His attention at the same time.
But TBS. Zach was a resourceful man and he ran ahead and climbed a tree, so he could see Jesus.
I can just imagine Zach trying to climb that tree, what a site it must have been,
It took determination on his part, for a short guy to climb a tree in the first place,
and their was probably not one person in the crowd, that would have given him a step up to help him.
Not one person, except for Jesus
You see, Jesus new the exact spot that their encounter was going to take place that day.
And He is always busy behind the scenes working on our behalf,
that’s why I believe, Jesus had all ready been there preparing the way for Zach,
To have a tree that was climbable there for him, just when he needed it.
For just a few moments later, Jesus looked up in that tree and said Zach come down,
Today is your day, I must go to your house today. Not can I, but I must go to your house today!
The crowd may have wondered that day, how did He know his name?
What they didn’t know was He not only knew his name, but everything else about him too,
right down to the number of hairs on his head! Praise God!
A lot of times, society tries to determine who is worthy of Jesus forgiveness,
Sometimes we forget, that whosoever means everyone, doesn’t it?
TBS. (the bible says) He would that none, should perish, even the tax man,
When you take a step of faith to meet Jesus, you will not be disappointed, He will be there when you do.
Zach couldn’t believe his ears, he came down out of that tree and accepted Jesus offer immediately,
Much to the dismay of the crowd and the religious leaders of the day.
What it should have done for the crowd that day, was give them hope,
that if He could change Zach’s heart, nothing was impossible, there was hope for all of them!
And a complete change of heart was exactly what Zach had.
He said, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
Jesus had changed his heart and now he wanted the whole world to know,
By demonstrating that change through his actions.
His decision was voluntary and flowed out of a heart of gratitude for what Christ had done for him.
Idn’t that how everyone should be?
Whenever Jesus meets someone there is change, because Jesus always, changes and transforms lives when He has an encounter with them!
From that moment on Zach, had finally found what he had been looking his whole life.
It wasn’t riches or fame, or material things, it was a relationship with Jesus!
You see, All those things in and that of themselves are not bad,
But without God in your life and a relationship with His Son Jesus,
There just meaningless words on a piece of paper, in another chapter in the book of your life
Albert Schweitzer once said, “If you own something that you cannot give away, then you don’t own it, it owns you.”
The only thing that matters in this world, is not things, but is what we do for Jesus while were here!
We should all strive to more like Zach and make Jesus the central focus in the story of our lives,
instead of just another chapter in the middle of the book.
The words of a song Gladys Knight recorded many years ago, says it oh so well.
If anyone should ever write my life story
For whatever reason there might be
Ooo, you'll be there between each line of pain and glory
'Cause you're the best thing that ever happened to me
Ah, you're the best thing that ever happened to me
Is Jesus the central focus of your life’s story, is He there on each page of the story,
He’s been there behind the scenes all along the way, waiting patiently to make His grand entrance!
If you’ve never made Jesus the Lord of your life, you can today!
Just ask Him to come into your heart and He will,
And He will be the best thing that ever happened to you
Let's pray.
