Daily Devotional

In college, some of my friends nicknamed me “the seeker.”  At the time I wasn’t a Christian, and even though I didn’t realize it I was searching for something missing in my life.  That’s why I joined the crew of a sailboat and tried to sail around the world.

I wrote to a friend: “I want to enroll in the University of Life.  My textbooks will be the stars and the trees, the lines in the faces of the people I meet, and the bubblegum in the cracks of cobblestone streets.  I want to find out what we all have in common, and what we are missing.  I want to find out the purpose of life.”

On the outside, there was no evidence God was working in my life.  I spoke and acted like an irreverent hedonist.  But on the inside the Holy Spirit was preparing my heart for salvation, implanting a curious desire for truth.

In Luke 19, the same type of thing happened with a man named Zacchaeus.  He was a “chief” tax collector with a notorious reputation for greed and corruption.  But God was working invisibly in his heart.  

In fact, when Jesus passed through his hometown he climbed up into a sycamore tree “to see who Jesus was.”

The crowd ignored him.  But Jesus stopped, looked up, and said: “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”

Verse 6 reveals that Zacchaeus “received him joyfully,” and verse 9 suggests he was saved that day!

So the moral of the story is “don’t judge a book by its cover.”

During this Easter season, keep your eyes open for Zacchaeus—someone who is seeking to find out who Jesus is.  And—remember—you may not find him where you normally look.  He may be waiting in a tree.

English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.