On the Road Home: How to Journey SafelySample

Day 4 – From wealth to happiness: a tax collector finds true richness (Luke 19.1-10)

There is a terrible expression: ‘to be filthy rich’. Do you understand what it really means? When you use it to show your disdain for the riches of the world, there may nevertheless be some kind of envy in your heart towards others who are so rich. Let me try and take that envy away by the modest testimony of something incredible that happened to me last week. I can barely believe the radical change that took place in my life. There is only one explanation: it was God who responded to a cry from my heart. I have been very rich. I still live comfortably, although not as much as before, since I paid so much back to others and since the donations to the poor that I have recently made – half of my fortune, in fact. And you know what? All my attachment to money and all the harmful selfishness that was consuming me have completely disappeared. I now feel great, happier than ever before.

I am sure you have heard about the famous ancient city of Jericho. Well, the Romans had appointed me as the chief tax collector of the wide region of Jericho. My job was to control a large group of tax collectors. I used this position to heap up enormous wealth and if you knew how much I earned each year, it would certainly spark your envy. I acquired all these riches in part through dishonest means, which I have now given up, but which were tolerated by the Roman governor. He only cared about receiving the annual amount that I was required to pay, so he closed his eyes when we as tax collectors used abusive means to fill our own pockets.

Do you think I was happy with my beautiful mansion, my rich friends and the holidays I often spent on the wonderful Greek islands? Well, to be honest, one of the reasons I went there was to escape the suffocating atmosphere of my country, where my compatriots hated me for collaborating with the Romans. No, I was not happy. No, money is not everything. You know what it means to have a clean conscience, to be at peace with God? For a long time, I have struggled with a guilty conscience. I dream of a different life, of asking God to have mercy upon me and allow me to live honestly, without getting rich by deceiving other people.

This change has indeed taken place. It all started when I became very curious to see and hear this Galilean preacher of whom I had heard so much. Since I met him, I have found true and lasting richness, without a shadow of doubt: He is my Saviour! (see Luke 19.1-10, the story of Zacchaeus).

Oliver Py

Thanksgiving

Thank you, God, that You had mercy upon us when we led our life far from You.

We are grateful, Lord, that You allow us to have communion with You, and to share
in Your wealth.

Thank You, God, for the transformation in our lives, like the transformation in the
life of Zacchaeus. You are our Saviour.

Confession

We regret the times when we attached more importance to material things and placed our trust in them. Even though we know that Your promises and all that pertains to the Kingdom are more important.

Requests

Grant us not to be governed by what we see and what we covet. Strengthen in us a the desire to seek the things of our heavenly Homeland.

Help us to be honest in the way we live. Help us not to despair and long for other circumstances, but to be a light in the circumstances ones in which we are.

Beloved Father, help us to become aware of everything You give us day after day.