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<\/a>“Do I have a chance?” would be my first question.<\/p>\nThe doctor might answer, \u00a0\u00a0\u201cYes, I think so. \u00a0Of course you will need surgery.\u00a0 I will remove the cancerous tumor, and you will be cancer-free.\u201d<\/p>\n
But what if I said, \u00a0\u201cOh good! Just one thing \u2013 you can operate if necessary, but I\u2019d like to keep my tumor.\u00a0 I\u2019ve had it a long time, and I\u2019m kind of attached to it.\u00a0 I want to be cured, but I\u2019ll just keep the cancer.\u201d<\/p>\n
How crazy that would be \u2013 to want to keep the disease that was killing me?\u00a0 The cancer was the very thing I wanted to be cured from<\/em>.<\/p>\nYet, here are many people today who behave just that foolishly.<\/p>\n
They say, \u201cI want to be right with God, and I want to go to Heaven when I die.\u00a0 I just don\u2019t want to give up my sin.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sin is our problem.\u00a0 Jesus came to save His people from their sin (Matthew 1:21).\u00a0 Salvation is giving up the control of our lives to God, and trusting in His death on the cross as the payment our sin deserved.\u00a0 Does it make sense to say, \u201cLord, I want to give my life to you, just as long as You let me keep control of my life.\u00a0 I want you to pay for my sins for me, as long as I can keep on doing those sinful things.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sounds pretty goofy to me!\u00a0 When a person is saved, he isn\u2019t perfect, but he wants to obey God.\u00a0 He feels sorry when he does wrong \u2013 and God won\u2019t let him keep on doing those wrong things without correcting him.\u00a0 We aren\u2019t saved by being good, but when we are saved we want to be good.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s look at a Bible story about a man who had a real change in his life after he met Jesus.<\/p>\n
No one liked Zacchaeus very much \u2013 and no wonder!\u00a0 He was a wealthy man who became rich in a way that made everyone hate him.\u00a0 He was a tax collector.<\/p>\n
The Jews at that time were ruled by the Romans.\u00a0 They had to pay the Romans lots of their money in taxed or they would be thrown in prison.\u00a0 The Romans were cruel to the Jews in many ways, and the Jews despised them.<\/p>\n
Even more than they hated the Romans, the Jews hated their fellow Jews who worked for the Romans.\u00a0 Zacchaeus was one of the Jews who collected the taxes for the Roman government.<\/p>\n
That would be bad enough, but Zacchaeus wasn\u2019t even an honest tax collector.\u00a0 He charged the people too much money in taxes and then kept the extra.\u00a0 He cheated his own people just to make money.\u00a0 Do you wonder that he had no friends?<\/p>\n
Jesus was coming to Jericho, the city where Zacchaeus lived.\u00a0 Perhaps Zacchaeus felt bad about the life he led.\u00a0 Perhaps he was just lonely.\u00a0 We don\u2019t know why, but he decided he wanted to see Jesus.<\/p>\n
What a disappointment he had when Jesus arrived in Jericho!\u00a0 Everyone had heard about Jesus and the wonderful miracles he had performed.\u00a0 Everyone wanted to see Him.\u00a0 It was so crowded that Zacchaeus couldn\u2019t even get close.\u00a0 Because Zacchaeus was so short, he couldn\u2019t see over the heads of the crowd and he was afraid Jesus would be gone before he could even see what He looked like.<\/p>\n
He ran ahead of the crowd to a big sycamore tree by the road.\u00a0 He quickly climbed the tree and waited for Jesus to come past.<\/p>\n
How funny he must have looked to the people of Jericho!\u00a0 There he was, the dignified tax collector sitting up in a tree.\u00a0 Jesus didn\u2019t think he was funny and Jesus didn\u2019t make fun of him.\u00a0 When He passed under the sycamore tree, Jesus stopped.<\/p>\n
\u201cZacchaeus,\u201d Jesus called up to him.\u00a0 \u201cHurry and come down, because today I\u2019m going to stay at your house.\u201d<\/p>\n
The people of Jericho weren\u2019t so happy!\u00a0 They were surprised and displeased.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat is Jesus doing, going to that wicked man\u2019s house?\u201d they murmured to one another.<\/p>\n
Jesus knew that Zacchaeus was repentant of his sin.\u00a0 He trusted Jesus and was saved that day.\u00a0 What if Zacchaeus had gone out the day after he told everyone he was following Jesus and continued cheating the people out of their tax money?\u00a0 Would they believe that Jesus had made a difference in his life?\u00a0 No, they wouldn\u2019t have been impressed at all.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m glad to say that didn\u2019t happen.\u00a0 Instead he said, \u201cIf I cheated anyone, I\u2019ll give back four times the amount I stole, and I will give half of my money to the poor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Zacchaeus had lived for money and had sacrificed everything to be rich.\u00a0 He gave it up, because he wanted Jesus more. There was no doubt that there was a change in this man\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
When you become a Christian, you enter into a new relationship with God.\u00a0 He forgives you and gives you a fresh start.\u00a0 The life he calls you to is one of peace and joy.\u00a0 But, don\u2019t think you can just pray a prayer or \u201cmake a decision!\u201d<\/p>\n
As we\u2019ve seen already in these studies, you must come to God in faith and in surrender. He is ready to receive you and forgive you and lift you up.\u00a0 He has a life of abundance\u00a0 for you, in the things that matter.<\/p>\n
He can heal you, and wants to heal you, but you have to be ready to surrender the things that are killing you.<\/p>\n
When that happens, your life changes. People see that you are different and that the change goes deeper than words.\u00a0 Like Zaccheaus, you will be a new person and everyone will know it.<\/p>\n
Check It Out<\/p>\n
You can read this story in Luke 19:1-10<\/p>\n
Why did Jesus come? (verse 10)<\/p>\n
What does Jesus offer those who come to Him? (Matthew 11:28-30)<\/p>\n
According to John 10:10, why did Jesus come?<\/p>\n
Do you want that kind of life?\u00a0 Are you ready to surrender and follow Him?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Suppose that I went to the doctor with a suspicious lump and got the bad news from the doctor. Cancer. “Do I have a chance?” would be my first question. The doctor might answer, \u00a0\u00a0\u201cYes, I think so. \u00a0Of course you will need surgery.\u00a0 I will remove the cancerous tumor, and you will be cancer-free.\u201d…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[58,118,121,45,229],"class_list":["post-905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sunday-special-messages","tag-bible","tag-change","tag-forgiveness","tag-jesus","tag-sin"],"yoast_head":"\n
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The doctor might answer, \u00a0\u00a0\u201cYes, I think so. \u00a0Of course you will need surgery.\u00a0 I will remove the cancerous tumor, and you will be cancer-free.\u201d…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/10\/a-true-cure-a-real-change.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beyond Gorgeous\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-10-16T11:26:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-10-16T11:26:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/files\/2011\/10\/207166_10150566829270537_758175536_18018906_565319_n8-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"sbrown\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A True Cure - A Real Change - Beyond Gorgeous","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2011\/10\/a-true-cure-a-real-change.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A True Cure - A Real Change - Beyond Gorgeous","og_description":"Suppose that I went to the doctor with a suspicious lump and got the bad news from the doctor. 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<\/a>“Do I have a chance?” would be my first question.<\/p>\n