Saying goodbye was actually a little hard this month. I think since I started the race I told myself not to be that invested in the people I’m working with because I’m only there for a short time. I didn’t want to really get to know someone then just leave. A lot of these kids have people come and go in and out of their lives all the time and I’m just another one of them.
But I’ve realized that since being here in Vietnam it’s worth the hard goodbye.
Even just one interaction can change someone’s life. I think all of us can go back and think of a moment or some words someone said that changed everything for good or bad. That one crumby day you were having and someone made you smile or you were kind of lost in life and someone said something to you that gave you some sort of direction.
I feel like my job this year is investing in people and showing them the love of Jesus. Seeking more ways to be Christ-like and putting that into everything I do.
But how would I be able to do that if I’m not willing to really invest in someone’s life. Ask them about their family life and who they want to be in the future, what their hopes and dreams are, what they believe their purpose is on earth.
Jesus invested in every person he interacted with. Even if it was a few words or a small moment, what he said or did changed everything in the person. They wanted to seek him more and be more like him. Every time Jesus talked to someone he showed them the love of the Lord and the hope and light of the future with him.
In the story of Zacchaeus, he was a tax collector, a real gangster. Tax collectors back then would cheat and steal to get more money for themselves out of people. He was loving In luxury without a care in the world for how many people hated him. One afternoon Jesus came ito town so Zacchaeus decided to climb a tree to see him. All of a sudden Jesus calls out to him “Zacchaeus!” And Jesus told him he wanted to have dinner with him at his house. In those moments, Zacchaeus had a change of heart. We don’t really know what happened during dinner but I have a feeling Jesus did a lot of listening.
Zacchaeus must have thought “nobody listens to me. Except for the few men who world for me. But this guy cares. This guy listens. He must get it… Does Jesus even know what I had to do to get this food, to get this table… to get this house? Yet he still doesn’t reject me” then he said “I’m changing everything!” And he started giving back everything he stole, in fact he gave 4x back what he stole from others.
A moment with Jesus changed everything.
We can be a lot like Zacchaeus, even when we want to see Jesus we can’t see past ourselves. Our past sin, past distractions and past our ego.
So we try harder, we try to impress him. We will run faster, climb the tree and get Gods attention.
But that’s not what saved Zacchaeus. It’s not biblical principle, personal devotion or religious duty or needs.
It was simply Gods mercy.
It was Gods grace.
It was Gods initiative.
“That is where every great movement of God begins. May it begin with you, in you.” –Circle Maker by Matt Batterson
