Get His Attention!!

How many of you remember the children's song about Zacchaeus?

"Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he. He climbed up in the sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see."

Well, tonight, that song came to my mind. Out the blue. I think I may have learned it at school, back when we were allowed to have God still be a part of our lives and education.

Anyway, I was singing it and it sounded so familiar to me. Not the song, per se, but the story itself.

You see, Zacchaeus was a tax collector. This is where the dramatic music plays in your head, lol.

That's right, he was a horrible, vicious, tax collector!!

In Jesus' time, most tax collectors were known for being corrupt and evil. They were considered some of the worst of the worst sinners and they were hated by most.

But!!! Here comes Jesus!!

I feel the Spirit of God as I type.

Here comes Jesus, who makes NO judgments against anyone. Who sees no fault in anyone!! His mission is to restore and forgive!!

Zacchaeus, like everyone else, had heard about Jesus and he wanted to see what the fuss was all about. So he went to where Jesus was said to be passing through but he couldn't see anything.

Zacchaeus was short. The Bible describes him as small in stature. I imagine, being very short myself, that he tried to stand on his tiptoes. He probably looked for a rock or a stump to stand on. He probably stretched his neck as much as he could to see over the crowd or even between the people.

But it was all in vain.

He couldn't see anything. So what did he do? He looked over to the side, saw a tree and climbed it. Zacchaeus now had the best "seat" in the house. No one was in front of him to block him. No one was pushing him around and stepping on him. He was free to see Jesus.

When Jesus passed by, something caught his attention to cause Him to look up. The Word says that He looked up in the tree and told Zacchaeus to come down because He wanted to go to his house that day.

Although we don't know exactly what happened at his house after Jesus went, we do know that Zacchaeus was changed. He told Jesus that he would sell half of what he had and give it to the poor and that anything he'd taken from any man, he would make it right and restore.

That was a changed man right there!!

But the people were mad because Jesus visited someone they all looked down upon. The Bible says they murmured because he was hanging out with a sinner.

They were mad because Jesus had chosen to visit a sinner!!

Jesus told the little man that day that salvation had come to his house. "For the Son of Man is come to seek and save that which is lost".

So, if it was good enough for Jesus and Zacchaeus, then why were the people mad?

Because they didn't want someone like Zacchaeus to be anything more than what he was: a sinning, corrupt, evil, tax man.

Wow!! Where do I go from here? I could leave it and you get the message, but I have to finish it.

It reminds me of what happened with me this past summer. I had heard about Jesus for many years. I had just never been visited by Him. It wasn't His fault, I hadn't made myself available to Him before. I had "attended church" for many years but had never experienced Him as I do now.

But in July, I heard about Him and I "climbed the tree", if you will, to get a better look at Him.

I couldn't see Him from where I was, so I had to climb to a higher place to see Him.

When I did that, He took notice of me. He looked at me and said, "I will come to your house."

Now, like in the story at Zacchaeus house, you don't know what exactly takes place at my house when its just me and the Lord but you can see the change He's made in me.

There are those in my life, and yours as well I'm sure, who saw me as the worst of the worst because of the sins I had committed. They looked down on me and judged me with their Pharisee spirit and from their Pharisee perspectives, like they did Zacchaeus. They didn't want me to do better.

It's amazing what the Holy Spirit of God reveals to you when you are alone in His presence. He will show you who, so you can pray for them in earnest. He will never reveal them to you so you can put them down, but rather so you can lift them up in prayer and love them anyway.

Nevertheless, you will know.

There are still those who say, "what is Jesus doing with the likes of her". But I pay them no attention because they don't understand what He's doing with me. They don't understand the horrible place of bondage that He brought me out of. And they don't understand how grateful I am to Him for stopping and helping a wretch like me. The woman at the well.

If you want to see Jesus and if you want Him to come to visit you, then you're gonna have to go out of your way to get His attention. Spend time with Him when you normally wouldn't. Fast and pray when your body is tired. Read His Word when you'd rather be on Facebook. Make a sacrifice to climb that tree. I guarantee you that it won't be in vain. He will take notice of you and He will come to your house to spend time.

You'll walk away a changed person as a result.

James 4:8 says, "Draw nigh to God and He will draw nigh to you."

Get His attention. Spending time with God is the best thing you can do.

Much love,

Christy

Daughter of God

Helpful Verses:

Luke 19: 2-10; Mark 2:15-17; Matthew 11:18-20; Luke 15:17