BE LIKE JESUS

BE LIKE JESUS

Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through.  A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy.  He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd.  So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.  When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.”  So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.  All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”  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.”  Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham.  For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” —Luke 19:1-19

            As Jesus was walking through life He looked for those lost who would respond to Him.  He had an eye and heart for them.  Do we?  Are we like Him?  Do we really care about people like Zacchaeus?  Do we desire to have an eye and heart for them like Jesus? 

            Zacchaeus was not the most popular person on the planet.  His “kind” was ostracized from society.  They worked for the hated Roman occupiers, collecting taxes.  This did not hinder Jesus at all.  When everybody else was blind to him, Jesus called to him and said, “I must stay at your house today.”  Zacchaeus “welcomed him gladly.”

            Zacchaeus was a wealthy man and unlike the young man in Matthew 19:16-26 whose wealth he clung to and would not give to the poor, Zacchaeus was immediately willing to give away half of his wealth to the poor and to repay four times those he had cheated.  These two men in are stark contrast to each other.  The wealthy young man would rather have his wealth than have Jesus life, but Zacchaeus would rather have Jesus life rather than wealth.

            Hmmmm… what about us?  What do we want?  Where is our focus?  Truly, look at the last day, week, month, year of your life.  Does a survey of your own life clearly show that you would rather have Jesus life or is your life focused elsewhere?

Dear Father help me to be more like Jesus and seek out those who would respond to Him and live for Him.  May this be so in the power of Your Holy Spirit and in the authority of Jesus.