No one loved Zacchaeus, the greatest of sinners. Everyone complained that, as a tax collector for the Romans, he stole money from others. And they were right.
Only God can make great changes in a man (even a small man) in a short time. I am greatly encouraged to see how God was changing Zacchaeus even before he met Jesus face to face. Zacchaeus wanted to see the Messiah so badly that he made the effort to find out where Jesus would be passing, ran ahead of him, and climbed the sycamore fig tree just so he could see him.
How happy he was when Jesus turned to him, Jesus who had chosen him from before the foundation of the world, and said he wanted to be his guest. Zacchaeus didn't think in his heart, "Me of all people. What am I going to do? What can I feed him?"
Here again we see a great change in Zacchaeus: From now on, instead of wanting to grow richer, he wanted to grow to be like Christ. The first thing he said to Jesus was "I will give back not just what I took from others, I will give four times what I took."
"Get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to-the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires. Your hearts and minds must be made completely new, and you must put on the new self, which is created in God's likeness and reveals itself in the true life that is upright and holy." (Ephesians 4:22-24)
At the moment Zacchaeus realized that Jesus was the way, the truth, and the life, he took off his old self and left it in that tree. He took off old behavior patterns and the desire to get money by corrupt means, and he was renewed in spirit and soul. He put on the new self by the grace of God. He was no longer the tax collector looking for someone to rob. Now he was a disciple, looking for someone to give to.
With God's help, any person can change and grow into the image and stature of Christ.
- 2 OCTOBER -