Conversion of the Heart

For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. Luke 19:10

Many of us grew up learning about Zaccheus and singing the song about his story.

Zaccheus was a wee little man and a wee little man was he.

He climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see.

And as the Savior passed this way, He looked up in the tree.

And He said, “Zaccheus, you come down! For I’m going to your house today!

Zaccheus’ story takes places only a few days before Christ’s crucifixion and Zaccheus was the purpose of His coming to Jericho. Oh, Zaccheus was a hated man. He lied, cheated and stole money. The people knew it but couldn’t do anything about it. His very living was earned by collecting more than he should have from the people. Yet, Jesus still came. We often quote Luke 19:10 admonishing ourselves to tell the lost about Christ. In fact, it is at the very core of the great commission to go unto the world and preach the gospel (the poor included). This is what Christ commissioned us to do and should be the purpose of each day. But today, I want to examine Zaccheus’ heart. He was a sinner alright. Greed had overtaken his life and his selfish goals were undeniable. But there was something deep down in his soul that caused him to be curious about Jesus, so much so, that he did not let the crowd (a great mass of people) stop him from getting a look at the man he had heard about. A man that performed miracles, a man that pointed people to Heaven and a man that was walking through his town!

The Bible tells us that Zaccheus was a short man, and this made the large crowd even harder to see around and through. His determination caused him to run ahead of the crowd and climb a tree so that he could see this man called Jesus. You know the story, Jesus came to the tree and stopped, he looked up and told Zaccheus to hurry and come down because He wanted to go to his house. Zaccheus was excited and the Bible says he “joyfully received” Him into his home. The crowd began to grumble and complain because Jesus was “keeping company” with a sinner.

Zaccheus had a meeting with Jesus. The change was immediate. The change not only brought restoration to the Zaccheus but to those he had cheated. He not only returned what he had taken but gave them back 4 times as much. You see, salvation had come Zaccheus’ house. Donald C. Stamps puts it this way, “True confession of sin and genuine saving faith in Christ will result in the determination to change our lives outwardly. No one can become acquainted with Jesus, accept His offer of salvation and at the same time remain sinful, dishonest and uncharitable toward others.”

The change was evident, is it in your life too?

Pastor Julia Scott