Dear Precious Friends,
On this absolutely amazing Saturday with just 6 days left before our Big Celebration of Christs Birth... We are in Luke Chapter 19... Once again there are so many rich truths... I am focusing on verse 10....
I love that in this verse, Jesus said Zacchaeus was a son of Abraham and yet was lost, he must have shocked his hearers in at least 2 ways... First they would not have liked to acknowledge that this unpopular tax collector was a fellow son of Abraham, and also they would not have wished to admit that sons of Abraham could be lost... HOWEVER... the main point here is a person is not saved because of a good heritage or condemned by a bad one.. Faith is more important than genealogy... Jesus came to save all the lost no matter what their background or precious way of life! Through faith, the lost can be forgiven and made new!!!
I am sure when he got up that morning, Zacchaeus did not expect that before long he would be entertaining the Son of God in his own home.
As a rich, important and chief tax-collector he was an individual who was hated by the Jews and despised by the Romans and was quite possibly a man who had been a swindler or a thief. But Jesus took time to come to him, to call to him and to open up for him the path of salvation, for Jesus has come to seek and to save that which was lost.
No doubt God had been preparing the heart of this wealthy yet detested tax-collector, for God is able to discern the motives of every man, and this meeting with Christ brought a sinner to repentance, when confronted with the incomparable perfection of the Son of Man.
How unlike the arrogant Pharisees, who looked with such disdain on tax-collectors and sinners and thanked God that they were so different from such 'offensive' people. These self-righteous men were so proud that they fasted twice a week, paid tithes of all their cumin and dill. They were unswervingly righteous in their own unenlightened and petty little eyes, yet failed to act justly to love mercy and to walk humbly before God.
How different the Lord Jesus was from those critical Jewish leaders, who so readily accused the Lord Jesus of spending time and hanging out with tax-collectors and sinners! But that day, salvation came to the house of Zacchaeus, for the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.
God still knows the heart of man and He is still seeking and saving those which are lost and bringing salvation to many souls who trust in HIM - by grace through faith.
Heavenly Father, thank You that You came to seek and to save a lost sinner like me and for the amazing love and grace You have bestowed upon me. Thank You for forgiving my sins, for bringing salvation into my heart and for making it Your dwelling place. Keep me humble in heart, meek in spirit and submissive to Your Holy Spirit, and may I be used to Your greater glory in all I say and do today, in Jesus name I pray, AMEN.
Have a blessed and beautiful day and please share your thoughts!!! Love you!