Press the arrow to listen to Steven Curtis Chapman sing “Yours” as you read today’s devotion.

Scripture
There was a man there named Zacchaeus. He was the chief tax collector in the region, and he had become very rich. He tried to get a look at Jesus, but he was too short to see over the crowd. So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree beside the road, for Jesus was going to pass that way.  When Jesus came by, he looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. “Zacchaeus!” he said. “Quick, come down! I must be a guest in your home today.”  Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But the people were displeased. “He has gone to be the guest of a notorious sinner,” they grumbled.  Meanwhile, Zacchaeus stood before the Lord and said, “I will give half my wealth to the poor, Lord, and if I have cheated people on their taxes, I will give them back four times as much!”  Jesus responded, “Salvation has come to this home today, for this man has shown himself to be a true son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” Luke 19:2-9

Observation
Importance is what we all long for, especially people like Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus was clever enough to compensate for his shortness. Taller people had brushed him off, so it was no problem for him to rip them off.  He would become rich, if by extortion and he would be looked up to if it was with stolen riches. But no matter how high the stilts of success Zacchaeus strutted on, he never felt tall enough.

News had come to him through the Fraternal Order of Tax Collectors of the kindness of Jesus to their profession. When Jesus came to visit his town, Zacchaeus just had to see this kind Rabbi for himself. But in the crowd Zacchaeus felt again the painful truth that he just didn’t measure up. No one liked the little pest. No matter how much money he had he could neither grow taller nor beg his way to the front line.  So Zacchaeus went out on a limb. He reached higher than he had ever done in his life. We’re supposed to laugh at the picture of an IRS man sitting in a tree in a blue, pin-striped suit with his wing-tipped Oxfords dangling over the branch.

Jesus offered Zacchaeus the gift of significance. The Master picked one face out of the crowd and asked to go out to lunch with him. For the first time in his life, someone important wanted Zacchaeus’ home and not just his tax office. That gift of recognition gave Zacchaeus space to repent. The desire for repentance had been in Zacchaeus’ heart, but it was Jesus’ kind notice of a disliked man that made it possible.

Application
There are many people I pass by in a given day who have climbed trees at the extremity of their desire to be important. To most they seem off putting. By being ignored their sin problem only grows worse. But the choice to acknowledge and to include them may be the very thing to change their hearts. Often those who seem to have things together, really don’t. They are waiting for someone to be genuine with them. Acceptance will bring them out of their tree of self-importance and bring them to level ground.

Prayer
Father, as I read this story, I reflect that Jesus works the same today. He ignored the crowd to help one person who everyone else had written off. Help me to have peripheral vision like Jesus to see Zacchaeus in a tree beside the road. Help me to go out on a limb to rescue them from self-importance with including love. Amen.

Press the arrow to listen to Parachute Band sing “To Live is Christ” as you read today’s devotion about significance.

Scripture
But also some of the Jewish exorcists, who went from place to place, attempted to name over those who had the evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, “I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches.” Seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?” Acts 19:13-15

Observation
Who are you?

That must be one of life’s most useful questions to be asked. It peels away our veneer of significance and shows the chipboard of our character below.

The seven brothers felt important because their dad was a big wig. A Chief Priest was far more important than a plain priest; and to be the son of a Chief Priest was something to brag about. To be the father of seven sons who were willing to travel the world as missionaries, must have filled Sceva with pride. That sense of significance must have infused into his boys. In the synagogue everyone recognized these famous brothers.

But the demons weren’t impressed with their last name. One sentence melted them. “Who are you?”

The demons recognized only two people. Jesus and those close to Jesus. Everyone else was insignificant. “I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?”

Application
If someone asked me today, “Who are you?” what would be my reply? Would I use my title, my address, my resume or even my father as my label? The only mark of significance would have something to do with the name of Jesus. In the world I live in, one can advance with values other than Jesus. But it is best to live as if none of them have significance. May my only value be that somehow I am in right connection with Jesus.

Prayer
Father, keep me rightly connected with Jesus. Amen.

Worship as you read this devotion by pressing the arrow.
Song: Desperation Band Here In Your Presence

Scripture
Jesus asked his disciples, “What were you discussing out on the road?” But they didn’t answer, because they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve disciples over to him, and said, “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else.” Then he put a little child among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, “Anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf welcomes me….Mark 9:34-37

Observation
Imagine a man who came to the end of his working life, who counted on the nest egg of thousands he had squirreled away, and with the withdrawal of his money he discovered that it was all saved in Monopoly Money. That currency may work for a few hours to play a board game, but it is worthless in the marketplace. A worker could have millions saved in Monopoly currency but he would be a pauper because it is the wrong kind of cash.

With one little child, Jesus showed the disciples that their spiritual bank accounts were stuffed with worthless bucks. They had been saving Kudos Money, which gets its worth from being in on the inner circle and close to the leader. The closer they rode to Jesus in the bus the more valuable they thought they were. Since Peter, James and John were allowed to peek into heaven at the Mount of Transfiguration, there had been lots of jostling for rank on the road. The disciples thought they had it figured out.

With one little child, Jesus showed the disciples that the dough was at the end of the line and not at the front. It is clear that in the ministry of Jesus, children were never peripheral. Jesus center staged children. He pushed past adults to bless them. He applauded their playful songs through the holy Temple. He even took time to look in the pockets of a little boy and perform a miracle with his lunch. In all of the Old Testament there is no other leader who noticed children. Jesus stands alone as treasuring children; it is with the little ones that he has placed the value.

Application
I wonder if most children’s ministries in churches are in the basement or back rooms because Jesus wants to test us to see if we value what he values? I don’t think this means that everyone must be a Sunday School teacher, though it wouldn’t hurt! It does mean that we need to constantly readjust our sense of significance. Working with children recalibrates our scale of values. The disciples squeezed in close to Jesus because of their insecurity. They were not confident in the Father’s love for them, so they were unable to risk the lonely places at the back of the crowd. We will value what Jesus values when we become stable in the great love of God for us. We need to be sure that the money we are saving is real money, that what we are living for is really worth having forever.

Prayer
Jesus, I know that you really love the children and in loving them I will become more of what you need me to be. So Lord, help me to see where the goods really are. The treasures of the kingdom are not always on the platform or the boardroom but in the basement Sunday School rooms where you wander and wonder with children. Amen.

Here’s a view of just a little of what Satan showed Jesus to tempt him.This is a video of a day over the skies of the USA.

Scripture
Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’” Matthew 4:8-10

Observation
There is something that that each human being wants because it is the work that God has designed him or her to do. For Jesus it was to rule the world, not in a self-serving sense, but in a God-glorifying, people-liberating way. Jesus is destined to become King of kings and Lord of Lords and it is not surprising that it was his point of temptation.

There will come in life offers to fulfill this God-given, life desire in shallow ways at little cost. For Jesus he was offered all of the kingdoms of the world by Satan. For me it would be something smaller but no less appealing.

The words Jesus spoke next showed who he was and what made him worthy to sit in the highest throne. Jesus turned Satan down flat. Our resistance of short cuts that Satan dangles is part of developing us as worthy to inherit what God has planned for us.

Application
Jesus could see right through Satan’s ploy because he looked at every opportunity through the lens of scripture. I need Bible eyes that see the world in simplistic terms, for if I worship the Lord only then all the things I am designed for and seeking after will rightly be added to my life.

Prayer
Father, today, help me to see life as you see it so that I can avoid sales gimmicks and instead find what you have designed for me. Amen.