Who are You Like?

Recently, I was in Vegas taking care of arrangements for my dad's funeral service with my sister. While there, I had an opportunity to visit a church where I used to be on staff and listen to a message on Zacchaeus (Luke 19:10). Before I share a few thoughts of the sermon, I want to pause and give praise to how God's Word and no matter how often you read Scripture – sometimes it's like reading it for the first time – it alive and active (Hebrews 4:12). Now the story of a short man (not me) – Zacchaeus. The pastor gave insights on three main characters of the narrative found in Luke's gospel (Luke 19:1-10) – the crowd (v.3), Zacchaeus (v.2), and Jesus (v.3). Let's begin with the crowd. From the start, they would be the antagonist in this story – preventing Zacchaeus from seeing Jesus and ridiculing our Lord from spending time with him (vv.1-3, 6). Then there is the chief tax collector Zacchaeus, with an ill reputation and vertically challenged (v.3) – who wants an encounter with this person named Jesus (v.4). What Zacchaeus doesn't realize is Jesus is no ordinary man (vv.5,8) who had an extraordinary love for the lost who He came to seek and save (v.10).

My friends, let us be more like Zacchaeus, acknowledging our need for a Savior to change us completely, less like the crowd, being an obstacle that keeps people from knowing Jesus, and be Christ-like, loving like our Lord – in word and action. Both matters.

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