snowboy’s

All He can do is knocking; the rest lies upon us: open it for Him to enter or ignore Him.

Have you ever seen a picture of Jesus knocking on a door? If you see the picture closely, you will find out that there is no handle on the door, so people from outside the room will not be able to open it. Check every picture of such scene, and I believe there will be no handle in the picture.

What does this mean? It means, Jesus can only knock on our heart. It can only ask us gently to let Him enter our live. Let us take an example of Zacchaeus, the chief among the publicans. He was one of the men people used to hate for he worked taking his own people’s money to be given to the Roman Emperor. Listening to the news that Jesus was coming, he prepared himself well.

When Jesus entered Jericho, it was told in Luke chapter 19 that he ran up at climb a sycamore tree so that he would be tall enough to see Jesus since he was little of stature. And what was Jesus’ reaction? It is written that: …He looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house (Luke 19:5, KJV). Can you even imagine, someone we hate the most in our neighborhood for doing something harmful to the neighborhood is welcome by Jesus? I still cannot, but I believe Jesus will do the same should the scene happens today.

Look at the story closely. It was Zacchaeus who first did an effort to see Jesus. At the 3^rd verse, you will find out Zacchaeus was eager to know who Jesus was, what kind of man He was. So, he dealt with his disadvantage on short body by climbing a tree. It is very clear that the first effort comes from Zacchaeus. Jesus was there, close to him, in his city. He knew it, and he made the effort. What was the result?

Out of nowhere, Zacchaeus said to Jesus while He and His disciples were eating in his house: Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold (Luke 19:8, KJV). Someone, whose job is collecting money and keeping it for himself, suddenly said such thing as giving half of his treasure to the poor and restore fourfold the money he had taken from the people. Radical change happened to this guy: a 180 degree change. When we welcome Jesus into our heart and live, such change may happen to us. All bad habits we want to be released from and all negative attitudes we want to get rid of can be banished as long as we welcome Jesus.

Jesus, seeing Zacchaeus act, said: This day is salvation come to this house, forsomuch as he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost (Luke 19:9-10, KJV). How many times are we too afraid to say that we want change? How many times are we ashamed to come to Him and said that we are wrong and sinful? How many times do we hesitate to admit our sins and bring on a new life in Him? Mark what He said, that the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. If you and I are currently lost, Jesus is looking for us. Let us welcome Him to our heart and live, leading us a better live in Him.