BOUGHT IN to the vision

“Bought in” is when a person decides to relinquish their old lifestyles and pursue another way. To give up an old way of doing things in exchange for the new.

Though God’s vision for an individual or the church may not be completely clear, it IS clear enough to desire a change in how they have been doing things. Are you BOUGHT IN to God's vision for your local church?

We see the example of being “bought in” in the story of Zacchaeus in the Book of Luke in the Bible. Jesus paid a visit to Zacchaeus' home after Zaaccaeus went to tremendous lengths just to get a glimpse of Jesus, to “see who Jesus was” as he was passing by.

Just by just being in the presence of Jesus, Zacchaeus realized enough of God’s purpose for his life to make a bold change in the direction of his life.

But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." (Luke19.8)

So, let's do a quick math lesson here. If Zacchaeus' possessions added up to, let's say, $1000, this would mean that he made an immediate contribution of $500 to the poor. That leaves him with $500. If we divide that amount by four, we come up with $125. That means that if Zacchaeus had cheated anybody out of more than $125, in our example, and he paid them back four times that amount, he would be flat broke, and unable to fulfill his commitment to Jesus.

So in order to pay back more than this amount, or any amount, Zacchaeus would have to continue to work to make money to repay his debt to others. A stark contrast to why he was working before meeting Jesus. Before, Zacchaeus' vision was working to build his own personal kingdom. After meeting Jesus, Zacchaeus was repaying others, in order to follow Jesus’ vision of expanding God’s Kingdom.

Yep. I would say that Zacchaeus was “Bought In” to Jesus' vision for his life, wouldn’t you?