Paul was just like you and me. He was no extra ordinary human being. He was a murderer, a sinner and detestable in the eyes of both God and Man. But in Jesus Christ, he became a new creation.
Zacchaeus was a rich tax collector. The Jews hated him and called him a sinner. Now Jesus was passing through Jericho and a big crowd followed him. As Zacchaeus was unable to see Jesus through the crowd, he climbs up the tree to see Jesus.
There could have been two reasons why he climbed the tree.
God’s purposes are being fulfilled all the time. He is working out His eternal plan in our lives notwithstanding our view of the circumstances. Whether it be David’s time of expansion, Solomon’s time of prosperity, Jeremiah’s time of exile, Nehemiah’s time of return from exile or the Messiah’s time of salvation, God has his people and God has his plans being worked out in every generation.
The most striking contrast in the above attributes’ list is that while the sensual person does NOT have the Spirit, a spiritual person prays IN the Holy Spirit.
I understand it in this manner: – The difference between a sensual person and a spiritual person is the presence of the Holy Spirit and all the other deeds will follow.
God is the giver of life, abundant life. What is it that is lying dead within us? Our mind, our soul, our desires, our spirit, whatever it is, God is the one who quickens that which is seemingly dead in our eyes.
The thief, that is, the devil comes to steal. What has he stolen from you?
Ruth, a Moabitess, came from a society that were not allowed entry into God’s tabernacle upto the tenth generation. Moabites were descendants of Lot through an incestuous relationship with his daughter.
In such circumstances, to take a decision to forsake her people, her culture and to embrace a foreign culture, a foreign religion was really a brave one. She would have heard a lot about the Israelite culture and their God from her husband and definitely from Naomi. Her life inMoab with Naomi was somewhere around 10 years. And in these 10 years she knew something about the Israelite God which emboldened her to take this drastic decision.
