6.16- To all of you followers of Jesus who are not tall.

 6.16-

To all of you followers of Jesus who are not tall.

God does not look at things the way the world does.

The world has set itself up to admire those who tall and poised and well dressed even if well dressed today may mean holes in your jeans for some people groups.

God is different.  As He told Samuel when He chose king David to be the leader of His people.

1 Samuel 16

⁷ But God told Samuel, “Looks aren’t everything. Don’t be impressed with his looks and stature. I’ve already eliminated him. God judges persons differently than humans do. Men and women look at the face; God looks into the heart.”

God calls people to be close to Him who are willing to open their heart to Him.

Some are tall and some are short and some are medium in height.  God is not impressed with looks and stature.  He doesn’t care if you are male or female, black, white or brown, tall or short, rich or poor, educated formally or not.  City or country.  Rural or urban or suburban.  Rent or own. New car or old car. Native or immigrant. American, Ukrainian, Russian.  God doesn’t look at things they way humans do.  That is good news.

I was able to attend the memorial service for Lynn Anderson, a minister, who had impacted many other ministers during his 86 years.  He had a big heart, good hair and privileged to not be a tall man similar to Zacchaeus who moved into a position to make a good, deep connection with Jesus.  Lynn Anderson influenced and encouraged 1,000's of ministers, elders and all kinds of men and women who were going through hard, broken times in their lives. 

God can use anyone who opens their heart to Him.

My devotional today focused on Luke 19.

I love the story of Jesus and Zacchaeus in the Bible.

He wanted to find out more about Jesus.

He accepted the realities in his life, but he did not let them limit him in his life.

He got himself into a position to learn more about Jesus.

He got beyond the crowd. There are many people who claim to be religious, but are really not.  Some who are religious are into man’s religion instead of God’s pure religion.  Religion as an institution is often a “crowd” instead of a “congregation” or even better a “community”.  If we want to get to know Jesus really well we must get into a relationship that is different from the “crowd”.

He used his limitation to move into a better position to see Jesus and be seen by Jesus.

He listened for a call from Jesus.

He welcomed Jesus into his home and learned how to have an extraordinary life.

He gave the first fruits of his things to God and to those in need.  People in need are open to be helped by God and His servants.  When we are broken we start to look at life from a different point of view.

He went beyond the norm in doing what is right to stand for justice and fairness.

He experienced the warm love and relationship with Jesus that transforms a life.  The change that came to me when I was reconnected to my creator was that I realized I didn’t want to be distant from God but close to Him.

He came to know that God is more than fair with His children, He is generous to them.

He was willing to take the risk of doing things the way God says do them.  He imitate God and trust God to work things out in the best way.  If a person works hard and takes reasonable risks he/she will be blessed by God with success and favor.  God favors the worker who goes the second mile in doing the right thing.  Sowing and reaping.  We reap what we sow and reap later than we sow, but we reap what we sow.  This  is what I call a spiritual law of gravity that works whether you believe in God or not.  God favors the hard working.  God calls the busy.  God makes sure that the better conditioned athlete stays around to get the “lucky bounce”. God will provide what is needed for us to honor Him and support those we are called to support.

He learned the joy of spending time with Jesus and expressed it in the way he worshipped and they way he related to the people he worked with.