Sunday, May 15, 2005
Nuggets - Stepping out from the crowd after Him?
I was reading about Zacchaeus in Luke 19 this week [Luke 19:1-6]. It says that he "sought to see Jesus, but he was small in stature and could not because of the crowd". But he had the faith (read: passion + determination + action) to step out from the crowd, be different and climbed a tree. He put himself in a different vantage point to see the Lord.Wow...! I am challenged: how many of us take to initiative to come after the Lord like that? I know that God is pleased with us in maintaining a 'steady walk' with Him..., but to step out and take the extra effort to set up and put ourselves in a place where we can meet Him -- I think that God loves that kind of passion / actions like that. In Zacchaeus' case, Jesus rewarded him by coming to his house. Zacchaeus put himself out there stepping out from the group, walking the extra mile (or in this case, a hard climb up the tree!).
I just wonder, what cost did he pay by stepping out?
- Perhaps some people in the crowd ridiculed him, reenforcing the fact that he was short;
- Others may have thought the despicable tax collector was humiliating himself further by climbing the sycamore tree "just to see this Jesus". Can you hear the murmuring? Can imagine people calling him "the tax collector turned little monkey"?
- The temptation to give in to self-beating thoughts must have crossed his mind, amplified by all the stares from the crowd. "I'm too short, why try", "too many people, too hot, I will never get through, why bother...", "I'm unpopular and people hate me, why should Jesus be any different".
Yet he didn't care. He didn't give excuses for his shortcomings. His eyes were on this Jesus and not on himself. He was ignorant about the crowd, about himself and about what people thought of him, but he was not indifferent in removing barriers that stop him from chasing after Jesus.
How many of us set ourselves up like that to have an encounter with the Lord? Coming after Him and taking the risk despite our shortcomings, our not so perfect backgrounds, our current difficult situations, and what others think? How do we get that kind of 'desperation' that God is especially pleased with?
I don't have answers, but I realize its a good place to start when we really begin asking that sort of 'dangerous' questions and bringing it to Him. Might never know when God looks up to the tree, calls out our name and singles us out, just as he did with Zacchaeus...
Labels: Spiritual Growth
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