seeking to save the lost
“…Zacchaeus.. a chief tax collector wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him.”
Zacchaeus was despicable in his own eyes. He did not want to be seen in public but he was curious to see Jesus. Being short in stature and also to avoid the crowd, he found a vantage point from where he could see Jesus without him being seen by others.
Jesus came looking for Zacchaeus. We are here in the world to seek and to save the lost.
People around us are at different points in their life journey. Some are aware that they are lost, while others are not. Some are seeking for answers to their life questions, while others are pursuing different goals, which they think will satisfy their soul.
“For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” Mark 8:36
Zacchaeus, seemingly, was not searching for anything in particular. He was an evil man, which he and everyone knew. He was not remorseful about his life choices and he was not considering to have a turn-around in life. Zacchaeus was simply curious about Jesus. He sought to see who Jesus was…
Perhaps we can establish his curiosity, that somehow, he knew that Jesus had something that was missing inside of him.
God made us to be a living soul. We were alive in our soul when God breathed His breath into us. “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. The soul of man is nourished in a breath to breath relationship with God.” Genesis 2:7
Nothing can provide the wellbeing of the soul, other than in a breath to breath relationship with God. Every human being, who is not in that breath to breath relationship with God, is in a state of bereavement of the soul.
Some are acutely aware of their emptiness, whereas others are covering it up with different pursuits and priorities in life. Nevertheless, every man, who is not in a breath to breath relationship with God is lost and needs to be sought and saved.
Zacchaeus was having the emptiness of the soul. He was not aware of his own problem but somehow Jesus had triggered the curiosity in him that Jesus had the fullness that he did not have.
“Nothing can provide the wellbeing of the soul, other than in a breath to breath relationship with”
We are here in this world to trigger the curiosity in the hearts of people around us, for them to seek to know, what is it that we have that they are missing inside of them.
If we have to seek and save the lost, we must cause the curiosity in the hearts and minds of people around us and then we will have the opportunity to present Jesus to them at an appropriate time and situation.
Many around us will not be able to articulate that they have a hunger or emptiness in their soul but they are searching, and our lives must trigger the curiosity in them that their deepest longing can be met when they have what we have, which is the wellness of the soul.
Has our life been such that we make people around us to consider us seriously and keenly? When our life is demonstrating the fullness of the soul, people around us will become curious to watch us.
They will watch us from a safe distance, where they will not be seen by others and at the same time, they can have a good view and perspective of us.
There are many Zacchaeus around us. We may never know who they are but they are watching us from vantage points because we have triggered their curiosity by demonstrating a life of fullness of the soul, which will make them conscious of the sorrow of their soul.
Jesus’ life was rich and full and this was demonstrated in His kingdom life, which He lived.
When we are rich in our soul, our everyday life will no more be the usual but we will live out the life of His kingdom. This is what will make people around us to be curious about us.
The Christian life has to be a counter-culture to that of the world around us. Ours has to be the culture of God. The constitution of the kingdom of God must be lived out in us.
The life of the kingdom is an outcome of the wellbeing of the soul, which is because of the breath to breath relationship that we have with Jesus.