Answering the Small Voice Inside

You’re content with your life, yet something deep inside is drawing you to take a look at Jesus. You’ve heard a lot about Him, but there are so many things in this world preventing you from clearly seeing Him. The question is whether you will make an effort to overcome those obstacles or let Jesus pass by without answering the call to pursue Him.

This was the dilemma Zaccheus faced when he heard Jesus was passing through his town (Luke 19:1-10). He was the chief tax collector, a rich man in the eyes of the world, yet he was curious about Jesus. “Zaccheus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature (3).”

The crowd is pressed in around him, stopping him from getting a good look at Jesus. What’s holding you back from taking a good look at Jesus? Is there a crowd of people around you that prevents you from pursuing Him? Perhaps you’re concerned what the people around you will think. You might think that you’re too small in stature to overcome the crowd, but that didn’t stop Zaccheus.

“So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way (4).” Here is a man of position in the community scrambling up a tree like an excited kid to overcome the crowd and see Jesus. Zaccheus answered the call he felt to pursue Jesus, regardless of what the people around him thought about his actions. 

What happens next is a powerful moment. “When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, ‘Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house (5).’” Zaccheus immediately responded to Jesus. “And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly (6).” Of course the crowd didn’t like that. “When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, “He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner (7).”

Zaccheus’ encounter with Jesus changed his life. Is that what’s holding you back from answering the call of Jesus? He’s looking at you and saying, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).” Are you concerned it will change your life? “Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, ‘Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much (Luke 19:8).’”

And Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” – Luke 19:9-10, NASB

And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy Him, and they could not find anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging on to every word He said. — Luke 19:47-48