I always thought the ‘S&H’ of ‘S&H Green Stamps’ stood for something like “Save and Help’ yourself to something better in life like a new toaster. In reality, ‘S&H’ stood for the Sperry & Hutchinson Company (S&H), founded in 1896 by Thomas Sperry and Shelley Byron Hutchinson. Popular in the 1930s through the 1980s. It was one of the very first retail loyalty programs.
Where does our loyalty reside and for what prize?
Luke Chapter 19 starts with the familiar story of Zacchaeus where Jesus stays at his house, the house of a sinner, and declares Zacchaeus’ salvation. Jesus seeks to find and to save what is lost even today through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.
And behold there was a man named Zacchaeus; and he was a leading publican, and he was rich. And he was trying to see Jesus, who he was… he was small of statue… so he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him…
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay in thy house today.”
All: “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
Zacchaeus to Jesus: “Behold, Lord, I give one-half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”
Jesus: “Today salvation has come to this house, since he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
What is lost in our lives?
What are we seeking especially day-to-day with the habitual parts of our lives?
For me I sought freedom through compulsive emotional overeating, especially sugary foods. While this self-medication did medicate me in the short-term, which became very short-term over time, it also created another problem in addition to my original problem: obesity and other health issues which I could hide at times, though not always, with my 6-foor, 3-inch frame. I have gained and thankfully lost one hundred pounds probably four or five times in my life. Gratefully, I have not regained that variable hundred pounds in the last eight years.
But what was my base original problem?
Same as many—my selfish nature, my pride and my Silly Ego who told me, convincingly so, that I had to be perfect, in control of all situations and all people, that I had to think in all-or-nothing terms, that I had to be judgmental in nature.
Thankfully, I let all of that go and let God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit more fully into the core of my being through the TROML Process—my Splendid Spiritual Self.
Now I primarily seek Jesus in my thoughts, words and actions and the rest has taken care of itself. Relief has come in terms of freedom from fears and resentments and untruths in life. I am more emotionally mature and better able to handle passing feelings and emotions, especially the disastrous, downward cycle ones. TROML Baby and a Child of God as I. Gratefully, honestly and hopefully eternally!
First we have to know, think, witness and be the salvation that has come to our hearts, minds, and spirits. But in reality that is really secondary to Jesus seeking and saving what is lost in you and me.
All we have to be is honest, willing, humble and open-hearted and open-minded and Jesus will come in ways we could never imagined. In this world and beyond.
See beyond what seems to be!
Those who have hurt you are not those who control your life. Do not fear, have interest and invest in the Lord and He will invest in you. No need for perfection or all-or-nothing thinking or judgmentalism. Don’t judge others, even those who oppress thee, for you will be judged with the same harsh standards. The Lord Jesus is king of our spirits!
Try to seek and to save what is lost within ourselves!
Day 76: Reading The Bible with a TROML Perspective; Do we Try to Seek and to Save what is Lost within Ourselves?
Read and inspired by the New Testament, The Gospel of Saint Luke Chapter 19.
Bible Notes:
The Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke
Saint Luke, a pagan by birth and a physician by profession, had never seen our Lord. An early convert, he became a companion and co-worker of Saint Paul.
In the first four verses of his Gospel he explains why he wrote it. Paul’s doctrine that salvation is for all, not for Jesus alone, is the theme of Saint Luke’s Gospel.
Luke Chapter 19: Zacchaeus tries to see Jesus; Jesus visits the home of Zacchaeus; Parable of the golf pieces; A nobleman orders his servants to trade; Reward for the first servant; Reward for the second servant; The unprofitable servant; Slaying in the nobleman’s enemies; Two disciples sent to obtain a colt; Triumphal entry into Jerusalem; The request of the Pharisees; Destruction of Jerusalem foretold; Cleansing of the Temple; Plots against Christ’s Life.
And behold there was a man named Zacchaeus; and he was a leading publican, and he was rich. And he was trying to see Jesus, who he was… he was small of statue… so he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him…
And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down; for I must stay in thy house today.”
All: “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.”
Zacchaeus to Jesus: “Behold, Lord, I give one-half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”
Jesus: “Today salvation has come to this house, since he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”
Now as they were listening to these things, he went on to speak a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately.
Parable of the nobleman and golf pieces.
Jesus: “A certain nobleman went into a far country to obtain for himself a kingdom and then return. And having summoned ten of his servants, he gave them ten gold pieces and said to them, ‘Trade till I come.’ But his citizens hated him; and they sent a delegation after him to say, ‘We do not wish this man to be king over us…’ when he returned, after receiving the kingdom… that he might learn how much each one had made by trading.”
First Servant: “Lord, thy golf piece has earned ten gold pieces.”
Nobleman to First Servant: “Well done, good servant; because thou hast been faithful in a very little, thou shalt have authority over ten towns.”
Second Servant: “Lord, thy gold piece has made five gold pieces.”
Nobleman to Second Servant: “Be thou also over five towns.”
Another Servant: “Lord, behold thy gold piece, which I have kept laid up in a napkin; for I feared thee, because thou art a stern man. Thou takest up what thou didst not lay down, and thou reapest what thou didst not sow.”
Nobleman to Another Servant: “Out of thy own mouth I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knowest that I am a stern man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow. Why, then, didst thou not put my money in a bank, so that I on my return might have gotten it with interest?”
Nobleman to the Bystanders: “Take away the gold piece from him, and give it to him who has ten gold pieces.”
Bystanders: “But Lord, he has ten golf pieces.”
Nobleman: “I say to you that to everyone who has shall be given: but from him who does not have, even that which he has shall be taken away. But as for these my enemies, who did not want me to be king over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.”
Jesus: “Go into the village opposite; on entering it you will find a colt of an ass tied, upon which no man has ever yet sat; loose it and bring it. And if anyone asks you, ‘Why are you loosing it?’ you shall answer him thus, ‘Because the Lord has need of it.”
The whole company of disciples: “Blessed is he who comes as king, in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!”
Pharisees to Jesus: “Master, rebuke thy disciples.”
Jesus to the Pharisees: “I tell you that if these keep silence, the stones will cry out!”
Jesus: “If thou hadst known, in this day, even thou, the things that are for thy peace! Nut now they are hidden from thy eyes. For days will come upon thee when thy enemies will throw up a rampart about thee, and surround thee and shut thee in on every side, and will dash thee to the ground and thy children within thee, and will not leave in thee one stone upon another, because thou hast not known the time of thy visitation.”
Jesus entering the Temple: “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a den of thieves.”
And he was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests and the Scribes and the leading men of the people sought to destroy him; but they found nothing that they could do to him, for all the people hung upon his words.
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