Just Enough to Get By

"I would like to buy three dollars’ worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough of Him to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of Him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack, please. I would like to buy three dollars’ worth of God, please." Wilbur Reese penned these words several years ago to capture the true sentiment of many people. Some think that God is a good thing to include in their life as long as He really doesn't get in the way or require too many changes.  As long as the cost isn't too great, God is given a place but not the place in their life. They want forgiveness--not conversion. However, when you look at the story of Zacchaeus it is evident that he doesn’t fit into this category. He wanted and experienced real conversion. When the invitation came for him to open his house to Jesus, he responded with a bold “yes.” He welcomed the Messiah into his home as well as into his heart holding nothing back. How do we know this encounter resulted in conversion? Luke gives us a glimpse as he unfolds the story. The man short in stature before meeting Christ had a large passion for power, position, and wealth. However, listen to his post-encounter response: “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." And then we read the words of Jesus, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." What strikes me as being unusual here is the fact that this newly forgiven sinner was never asked to do the things he agreed to do. He was never asked to give to the poor or to restore that which was stolen. So what is the point to be made?  Simply stated, when people move beyond forgiveness to conversion they make decisions based on responsibility rather than necessity. We do things because we want to not because we have to. Such actions attest to the fact that converted people are not satisfied with having their soulish slate wiped clean. They are not to be categorized as those who seek only do what is required. Their desire is to move beyond the thrill to the real; to move beyond the needful to the natural. This means as new creatures they are consumed with walking out their faith. In essence they are never satisfied with doing just enough to get by.