Sunday, March 22, 2015

Climbing trees

My church has had an online devotional for Lent this year.  We have been reading 2 chapters a day in order to read through the Gospels by Easter.  Each day, a church member or a staff member adds a devotional that corresponds with the days reading.  Today was my day and I had been assigned Luke 19 & 20.  There's a LOT in those two chapters, so, I chose to focus my writing on the well-known story of Zacchaeus.


“Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he!
He climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see.”
I don’t know about you, but my tree climbing days are way behind me.  The last time I climbed anything of any significant height was when my 3 year old son found himself up in the top of the McDonald’s indoor playspace and couldn’t find his way out.  He didn’t know I had been watching him explore higher and higher.  He didn’t know that I was waiting for him to decide that he needed my help—but I was.  Once he cried out to me, I made my way to the impossibly tiny staircase.  Fellow diners were treated to dinner and an entertaining show as I shinnied up to where he was and guided him safely back down to terra firma.
Zacchaeus, a grown man, was willing to climb a tree just to get a glimpse of who he knew to be the Savior.  The bible doesn’t say Zacchaeus had ever met Jesus before, but somehow, Zacchaeus knew this man, this Jesus, was the Redeemer he had been seeking.  He climbed up in a tree, trying to get a better look, not knowing that his Lord already knew where he was and what his needs were.  Zacchaeus’ faith in Jesus was his salvation, for “the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost”.
Jesus didn’t just acknowledge Zacchaeus’ tree climbing prowess with a nod or a wave—he invited himself to Zacchaeus’ home!  Jesus wanted to spend time with Zacchaeus and to get to know him.  Today, Jesus is still pursuing each and every one of us.  He knows our needs before we’re even aware of them.  He longs for a closer relationship with us.  We just need to bring Him in to our homes and our hearts. Time spent in prayer and in the Bible will open our hearts so that we can know Hisheart.
Lord, use these 40 days of Lent to renew and refresh our hearts and open our eyes to the Truth you’ve placed before us in Your Word.  Amen.



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