Filled with Enthusiasm

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

FILLED WITH ENTHUSIASM

Luke 19:1-10

19:1 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. 5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today."  6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. 7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, "He has gone to be the guest of a 'sinner.'" 8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount." 9 Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost." 

NIV

Once again the words of Jesus are always in the center of attention, yet the narrative also has a valve of seeing a truth. First, Zacchaeus was seeking to see Jesus. We do not know the purpose of his heart, but we can conclude, because of his response to having Jesus in his home, giving, and making restitution, that the Spirit was already working in him and that he was seeking to see Jesus. In fact, so much so that he had to climb a tree just to get a view of Jesus as he walked by. Second, we notice the all-knowing divinity of Jesus as he called Zacchaeus by name, a man he had never met before or had any knowledge of, other than he was a man who made an exceptional effort to see Jesus. This makes us think of how we first sought after Jesus and the excitement when He found us, calling out our name, “Come with me, I must stay at your house, ‘in your heart’ today”. We saw the transformation of Zacchaeus from a cheating tax collector to a repentant follower of Jesus. We had that kind of transformation when we found Jesus and allowed him to stay in our hearts. Yet the truth is that Jesus sought after us because we were lost, but praise God we have been found. We always need to maintain that same enthusiasm in our walk with Jesus because our whole life is not in him. Let us never become half-hearted, lukewarm, or tepid in our walk with Jesus, to the point that we almost become lethargic or apathetic. It was not just that one day that salvation came to our heart, but it is every day, all day that Jesus is working within through the power of the Holy Spirit, gifting us, empowering us, to be who we were intended to be, a fully armed enthusiastic soldier of Christ, doing that which we have been called to be and to do. Life in Jesus is all about being filled with enthusiasm.