Day 3

Scripture to Read: Luke 19:5-6

Zaccheus was in the tree waiting for his moment to see Jesus and to find out if He was everything people had been saying about Him. God led Luke to record this in Luke 19:5–6, “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.” What’s so incredible about all of this is that Zaccheus had no clue Jesus would even notice him. Zaccheus’ plan was to be an observer only and then decide for himself what he thought of Jesus. But our Lord set His plan in motion, for He knew (because He is God in the flesh) what Zaccheus had gone through to ensure he had the opportunity to at least see Jesus. Jesus did not want Zaccheus to merely observe Him; He wanted Zaccheus to encounter Him. That is why Jesus told Zaccheus that He was going to his house. Zaccheus wasted no time coming out of that tree to not only meet Jesus but to be able to spend time with Jesus. That same invitation comes from our Lord to us every day. Jesus, through His Holy Spirit, dwells in us because He wants to be in our house and have close fellowship with us, but that means we must choose, like Zaccheus did, to put everything else aside and to meet our Lord gladly! We must guard against allowing anything else to get in the way of meeting with, talking to, and learning from our Lord.

Challenge & Application

Why did Zaccheus come down from the tree so quickly, and what can we learn from his passionate pursuit of Jesus? What does your time with the Lord currently look like, and how can it become more vibrant and alive?

Don’t forget to pray using the A.C.T.S. (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) method!

Devotionals from this week

Swipe to Discover More

Day 1

This week, God is going to teach us through the life of a man named Zaccheus. Many of us remember the song we learned as children about Zaccheus. The song describes him as a “wee little man,” and how he “climbed up in a sycamore tree for the Lord he wanted to see.” But the song does not describe this about him, as we read in Luke 19:1–2, “He ...

Read

Day 2

We know Zaccheus was not someone that people enjoyed hanging out with because of his reputation as a chief tax collector. God had Luke then write this in Luke 19:3–4, “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...

Read

Day 3

Zaccheus was in the tree waiting for his moment to see Jesus and to find out if He was everything people had been saying about Him. God led Luke to record this in Luke 19:5–6, “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 re...

Read

Day 4

Anytime Jesus chose to minister to the so-called “sinners” of His day, there were always some in the crowd who had negative opinions to share—that is what we read in Luke 19:7, “When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.’” The sad part of this encounter is that those in the crow...

Read

Day 5

When anyone has a true encounter with Jesus, fully realizes He is God, and surrenders to Him as Lord and Savior, there will be evidence of a changed life. As God had Luke continue to write, we read in Luke 19:8, “Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyon...

Read

Day 6

We know salvation is only possible through a personal relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ through believing fully in his death, burial, and resurrection, by surrendering to Him as Lord and Savior, and then walking in obedience to Him all the days thereafter. Many claim to know Jesus, but it seems fewer and fewer are actually walking in ob...

Read

Day 7

Jesus had radically saved Zaccheus from a life of thievery and swindling to a man ready to give to the poor and to pay back fourfold everyone he had taken from. Only Jesus can make that kind of change in a person’s life. We read some of the sweetest words from our Lord Jesus in Luke 19:10, “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that...

Read