April 13
2019
Are you Willing to Climb the Tree?
Then Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way. Luke 19:1-4
Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus but he was short.
He couldn’t see over the crowd.
But Zacchaeus really wanted to see Jesus.
So, he ran ahead and climbed up a tree to give him the height he required.
Zacchaeus’ solution required some effort:
1) he had to acknowledge the limitation and think it through,
2) he had to actually climb the tree,
3) he couldn’t allow what others might think of him impact his plan.
Sometimes we really want to see Jesus but there is something standing in our way.
There are times when we just give up right there.
We see the obstacle and we either turn around and go back or we just stand there and bemoan its presence in our lives.
But we, like Zacchaeus, need to learn to take on the obstacle.
1) We need to think it through (the first step is really to acknowledge the obstacle and to make the decision to think of a way around it).
2) We need to actually follow through with our plan (often we know what we need to do but struggle to get it down).
3) We can’t allow the perception of others to impact our plan (others may laugh or criticize while we climb the tree, but they are not the ones that have a desire to see Jesus and get past that obstacle, so their laughing and criticism is of no importance).
Do you want to see/encounter Jesus in a new way today?
It is time to climb the tree.
Are you willing?
Question for the Discussion Group:
Are you willing to climb the tree to encounter Jesus?