THE PROBLEM

We had a man come into my place of work the other day and he immediately said, “I want to talk with the store manager”. The store manager wasn't available for awhile, so he told me his problem. It seems he had bought a lawnmower a little over a year ago and it just blew the engine. He wanted the store to give him a new one or credit towards a more expensive mower. In other words, to redeem the broken one and make it new in some way...that was a problem…

When the manager arrived he explained that the store policy is that we will refund or replace up to 60 days on mowers, but the manufacturer has a one year warranty (which was also past). I thought the manager did a good job of explaining all of this very patiently, but it was a problem with no cheap answer to make it right. I mean, that which regulates the transaction and responsibilities was clearly spelled out in the papers they were given…so what do you do?

This is similar to the problem each of us have today isn't it? We as humans are broken and unfixable by human standards. Each of us has the problem of sin in our lives. It may not be a BIG easily recognizable sin, but to God, sin is sin. If you don't obey his rules, then you can't be fixed. God's word tells us that all of us sin and fall short of God's Glory, (Romans 3:23). While we are told in 1John 1:7-10 that anyone who says they don't sin is calling God a liar and that His Word is really not part of their lives. That is a problem isn't it, because sin separates us form the source of life (eternally) God himself. When we sin, we are responsible for the cost for the damage to our lives, which is impossible for us to pay.

Fortunately, when God wrote his rules, he wrote in a redemption clause, an escape clause if you will. It's spelled out clearly in his rule book (the Bible) in more than one place. Places like Mark 16:15-16 and Romans 6:1-10. We are told that the redemption we can experience is not dependent upon our own ability, but upon the willingness of Christ to pay what was necessary for us. What was required was a payment in blood; a payment of sacrifice; a payment of suffering to fix what you broke and for which you were responsible. He paid the debt he did not own, because he loves you that much! In return he asks the you obey him and commit to living by His rules to the best of your ability.

Now the man who came into our store was helped with his problem. We actually gave him a loner mower until he could check with the manufacturer. Redeemed or fixed no; we were just kind of able to put a bandage on the sore spot in hopes he can get it fixed properly some place else.

I see a lot of people who are putting band aids on their lives, they cover up the sore spot, but something is missing, something is hurting, something is lacking in their lives. It is the healing that comes from God when we finally decide to follow the rules in His Book the Bible. To embrace the need to sacrifice some things in our own lives, to gain eternal life.

ONE IS THE LONELIEST NUMBER

Way back in 1969 a group known as "Three Dog Night," recorded a song called "One is the loneliest number." The basic concept is that being alone is no fun and not something most of us want. I was reminded of that song this week in an unexpected way.

This week I got to re-experience a young children's bible class. My wife's helper was out of town and I wasn't teaching, so I "assisted" with the 2^nd grade bible class. You might think that you couldn't learn much from a class presented for children that young, but then, you would be wrong.

The class was about a man in the bible with no friends. No one wanted to be around him; he wasn't nice and didn't treat others very nice either. In fact that was the main thing he was known for, cheating and mistreating people. Besides that he looked weird, he was really short and people probably found it easy to make fun of him because of that, but maybe that is why he turned out to be such a mean person.

Jesus saw in this man the potential for greater things. He turned his life around and took the pain of loneliness out of his life. And just in case you haven't figured it out, the man's name was Zacchaeus and you can find his story in Luke 19. He was a Tax Collector working for the Romans collecting taxes and cheating people to line his own pockets. He was so alone that he was looking for someone to make a difference in his life and so anxious to find one, he even climbed a tree just to get a glimpse of Jesus.

The bible class centered on how difficult it is to feel all alone and how you would feel in different situations. There are times we all feel alone, we feel unloved, and unliked. On the outside we may look to others like we have it all together. We may dress nice, we may have a good job, and we may have things that the world says means success, but we can still be alone. You may have none of those things and be alone and miserable because of that. Maybe that causes you, just like Zacchaeus, to treat others in unkind ways, but Jesus still is the answer to the loneliness and pain we sometimes feel.

Once Zacchaeus understood how much Jesus cared, that he could really understand his pain and loneliness. When Zacchaeus understood that Jesus really wanted to be his friend, his life was changed as no one else could change it. He literally became a "new man." In Luke 19:8-10 we read: "Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, "I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!" Jesus responded, "Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost." "

Some of the most powerful and wonderful words in the bible are found here, "For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost." How about you? Are you all alone… are you lost? Perhaps it's time to start looking for Jesus, even if you have to put some effort into finding him, like Zacchaeus?