Glenda Andrus
Hope For Today
Luke 19
New American Standard Bible ©10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

Zaccheus Converted
1 He entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 And there was a man called by the name of Zaccheus; he was a chief tax collector and he was rich. 3 Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. 4 So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way. 5 When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, “Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house.” 6 And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. 7 When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” 8 Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much.” 9 And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham.”

Zaccheus
Winners think above….
I love to tell this story to our children but everyone can benefit from its lessons.  Here is a well grown man…. whom though  very short in statue… wanted to see Jesus with great passion. He knew because of the press of the people,  and his height being so short,  he would have little chance of seeing Him.  Yet, he was filled with great determination.  Then Zacheus spotted a tree and quickly climbed it. He didn’t let his limitation keep him down. Instead of being the shortest in the crowd, Zacherous became the tallest, not only in physical height, but in seeking Jesus.

It paid off.  Jesus always comes to those who sincerely
desire to reach him. We see this over and over. But this day it was Zaccheus, who was climbing up a little higher than his circumstance and when he got high enough above the ones blocking his vision, Zaccheus saw Jesus.
Can you imagine the push of the crowd that day as Zaccheus heard Jesus was passing His way? He didn’t allow this to stop his great zeal, “ I know what I will do, I will get above the clamour.” He saw a tree that had a limb in just the right place for a seat. He thought, perhaps,  I will sit there and I will see Jesus!
Even when Jesus came closer, Zaccheus could have thought, I’m up here in this tree, Jesus will never see me or He doesn’t know I’m up here and he will just keep walking past me. But I can imagine as Jesus walked nearer and nearer, Zaccheus, the little short man, stretched as for as he could to see Jesus. I can imagine his heart beating faster and faster. Then the unbelievable happened, Jesus stopped the procession and looked straight up in the tree, and said, “Zaccheus, I want to come to your house today and have lunch”.  Zaccheus didn’t waste any time trying to figure it all out. Not only did he fulfill his desire to see Jesus, but now he was going to be able to sit down and have a conversation with him. ( to be continued)