Picking up from my last post, Jesus was going to Zacchaeus’ house. . . .

Have you ever heard the notion that after a certain age (maybe it’s getting later since 50 is the new 40!) people just don’t change. We get stuck in certain ruts, our reputations are set, and we just don’t change. Don’t tell that to Zacchaeus!

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.”

Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:1-8)

Imagine what the gathered locals were saying! This is the same guy that they had been bad-mouthing, wondering why Jesus would go to such a person’s house. . . .

Life change couldn’t be more visible and profound than it is here. Recognizing his cheating ways, Zacchaeus decides to make things right—and then some! He agrees to pay back four times what he had cheated the townspeople out of! Jesus replies to this change of heart: “Today salvation has come to this house … For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

If we are honest, even followers of Jesus can find ourselves “lost” at times. Not eternally lost like those without Jesus, but we can be lost in other ways: in a funk, in over our heads, captive to some past experience, wrapped around the axle in some current relationship. But then, if we run to climb a tree, get ourselves out of the ruts we tend to ride in, maybe He’ll call us down and come to dinner.

In the hours or days ahead do you see a chance to go somewhere, do something that might get you in earshot or eyesight of Jesus—so you might have a divine encounter?