Read Luke 19:1-10

Zacchaeus knew an opportunity when he saw one.

Having no assurance that Jesus would ever pass that way again, little Zacchaeus gathered up his robe, ran like crazy, and climbed the sycamore tree.

Zacchaeus came down from that tree a changed man, ready for a fresh start. He isn’t sure what it will cost, but whatever it is Jesus is offering, he wants it.

What did it cost him? Some money? Some pride? It’s not easy to make restitution, especially with your peers laughing at you for what they see as stupidity. What did he gain? The joy of Jesus’ presence with him now, the sure knowledge of eternal life to come. Zacchaeus did not get out of life what he put in. He got infinitely more in return.
What is life? A possession? An investment? Honesty is the best policy, we say. Thrift pays off, we state. These common maxims are true. But the lifestyle Jesus taught is broader. It has a kind of sweep and freedom. “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full,” Jesus said (John 10:10).

The Christian life, rightly understood, is not a timid hoarding of our resources and talents. One day does not follow another in a “petty pace” of boredom. It is developing our talents, sharing them with others. It is being truly interested in other people and their needs and problems.

Read Luke 18:31-43

Whatever the blind man lacked in physical sight, he made up in persistence and sincerity.

Not only did he seize a fleeting opportunity, he grasped who Jesus was, addressing him as “Son of David,” a messianic title. He could not have cared less about creating a scene when the bystanders tried to silence him. It was now or never. This was his only chance. His request was specific, as clear as his sight became when Jesus spoke healing. The disciples, on the other hand, were smitten with intellectual blindness when Jesus tried to tell them about His coming death and resurrection (v. 34).

Which camp are we in? If we have an opportunity to be in Christ’s presence—and that’s what prayer is, coming into God’s presence—let us follow this man’s example. Are our prayers clear and definite, like this blind man’s? Besides persistence and sincerity, he had no false pride, no timidity in coming to the God of the universe. Casting himself upon Christ’s compassion with audacity and without reservation, he abandoned himself utterly to Jesus. If we do the same, crying out in our helplessness, we too may find our spiritual eyes opened to new and glorious opportunities.

Salvation comes when we throw ourselves upon Jesus with a combination of humility and boldness born of desperation. When we want Him more than anything else in the world, then He meets us where we are.

Read Luke 18:15-30

Jesus said we must approach God’s kingdom like a child, or we’ll never get in.

Why? Children can be mean and cantankerous. But they are also teachable, trusting, and open. The person who makes headway with God comes as a child to a trusted parent, ready to obey and learn.
Jesus has no sooner made this point than He encounters a person with a most unchildlike attitude.

We call him “the rich young ruler.” Why was this earnest young man so important that Matthew 19:16-22, Mark 10:17-22, and Luke 18:18-25 all three record Jesus’ encounter with him? He addresses Jesus lightly. Jesus stops him in his tracks (v. 19). Then Jesus demonstrated divine knowledge. He let the man know that He saw beyond the brave front to his nagging suspicion that, although important, there was something more to life than clean living and money.

It isn’t wrong to be rich. It is wrong to want Jesus plus something. The rich young ruler wanted Jesus plus money.

What is it we want? Jesus and money? Jesus and an education? Jesus and a good marriage? Jesus and the career of my choice, not God’s? Jesus plus what? Freedom and victory come only when it is Jesus and nothing. “Jesus only all my cry; Jesus only or I die,” says the old song. God must come first. After that is settled, let Jesus add whatever He wishes to our lives.

Read Luke 18:9-14

God handcrafted us one at a time, each a little different, forming us especially to love and serve Him.

Armed with that knowledge, we can have healthy self-respect and vigorous self-esteem. God made me. I am special to Him.

If that is the case, what is the trouble with this Pharisee? He has his act together, but Jesus is not pleased with his performance.

We are God’s workmanship (Eph. 2:10). But we still must see ourselves as God sees us, not as we think we are. This is where the tax collector had it all over the Pharisee. The Pharisee informs God and us that he is generous, honest, sexually pure, following God’s law with a vengeance. In arrogance, he is proud of doing it all in his own strength. Like the boy in the nursery rhyme, he puts in his thumb, pulls out a plum, and says, “What a good boy am I.”

The tax collector, on the other hand, knows he needs help. He would have agreed with Paul who said, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). In humbleness he sees himself as God sees him.

And how is that? Sinners in need of a savior, sheep prone to wander, little children helpless without the Father’s guiding hand. Proper humility is calling on Him for help, grateful that God “remembers that we are dust” (Psalm 103:14).