Jesus entered Jericho and made his way through the town. There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way. When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.” Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled. Luke 19:1-7 (NLT)
There are a couple of things that we learn about Zacchaeus in this scripture. First, he wasn’t going to let anything get in the way of him seeing Jesus. This is the same attitude that we should have in our daily lives: Nothing will stop me from praying each day, nothing will stop me from reading God’s Word (the Bible) each day, nothing will stop me from attending church each week, etc.
Second, he was persistent. Zacchaeus didn’t give up when conditions didn’t look favorable to him. He was willing to do whatever was necessary to reach Jesus. He climbed a tree, and at that moment, Jesus noticed his persistence.
How can you be persistent in your effort to reach Jesus (pray, read the Bible, etc)?
- To watch the messages in the “I Want to Believe, But…” series, click here.