CLIMB UP

• DAY 226
• FAITH FILE: ZACHEOUS
• SCRIPTURES: LUKE 19:1-5

Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, “Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”

In our text today, we have Zacchaeus, he was so desperate to meet with Jesus, to know Him, to see who this Man was; he just wanted to get a glimpse of Him. But he had a couple of limitations.

His first limitation was the crowd. There were so many people around Jesus every time that getting to Him could seem like a feat. To make matters more complicated, the multitude that was around Jesus didn’t like him. So if he was to push his way through, they would definitely push him out because he was a tax collector, and to them he was scum of the earth. Yet, this man wanted to see Jesus desperately.

The second limitation he had was his height. He was shorter than everybody so he couldn’t see Jesus except upclose, face to face. Since the crowd will hinder him from coming face to face he had to find another way. He decided that nothing will stop today. He runs ahead of everybody, climbs up a tree and waits for Jesus to pass so he could just catch a glimpse of Him.

Distracted

That love, that desperation, that passion, that attitude is what we ought to have consistently with Jesus. To be so hungry and desperate for His presence that we will do anything to see His face. We will rearrange our schedule to spend time with Him in worship and prayer. If necessary, be willing to climb, isolate ourselves, take time away from work not just for vacations but for retreats. Intentionally put away distractions from our gadgets and sometimes people. We can give up anything if it means that we get to see the face of Jesus.

When we became born again we gladly did these things. We were intoxicated by His love but now some of us have gotten too busy to find time for Jesus. Our obstacle is work, kids, life, netflix, etc. This ought not to be. We ought to have gotten more hungry and desperate and not less. We ought to dedicate ourselves to seeking and loving Him. Jesus is saying, return! Return to your first love.

Return

Some of us just need to return. We need to retrace our steps and go back to the place where we first loved Jesus. And guess what happens every single time that you set out to see Jesus’ face, you find Him. He comes to rest in your heart and make it His home. Those who seek Jesus, those who diligently seek Him gets rewarded with His presence.

Beloved, don’t despair. Don’t allow anything hinder your ability to pursue God. Be like Zacchaeus. And if it means that you have to climb up, climb up. Overcome the obstacle and go back to your Jesus.

Shalom.