This morning in my quiet time with the Lord, I asked Him to speak to me through His Word. I was drawn to the passage on Zacchaeus. You have all heard the story of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-10), the short tax collector (a despised and sinful person in the community) who climbed a sycamore tree to see Jesus as He was passing through Jericho. As I’m reading the passage I began to sing the song about Zacchaeus I learned in Sunday School: “Zacchaeus was a wee little man…”

As I read over the passage again and again, I asked the Lord why He wanted me to read this passage? “When Jesus reached the spot, He looked up and said to him, ‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.’ So he came down at once and welcomed Him gladly. All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.'” (vv 5-7)

Zacchaeus had never met Jesus before, and yet Jesus knew his name. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you” (Jer 1:5). Jesus KNOWS who we are, what we’ve done and He wants to meet with us anyway. How amazing is that? “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” (Rev. 3:20)

I don’t know what you have done in your life, but I know you aren’t perfect. I don’t know anyone who is, except Jesus. And yet He came as a baby, born in a stable, placed in an animal feeding trough (think about how much He humbled Himself) to meet you! “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (v 10)

During this Christmas season, let us be thankful for our Lord and Savior who humbled Himself to save us from our sins and eternity in damnation. That doesn’t sound like a warm and cuddly version of the truth, does it? But it is the truth. Without our faith in Jesus Christ, that is how we would spend eternity. But through our faith and the repentance of our sins the lost can be forgiven and made new in Christ. “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Rom. 10:13) What an amazing gift of His amazing grace!

Who do you know that you can share this gift with? For He said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matt. 28:19-20).