April 8, 2024

A lot of people in the crowd weren’t happy. Jesus was a celebrity. Everybody wanted a piece of him. There were religious leaders who wanted His company. There were civic leaders who wanted His influence. There were people who were excitedly waiting to see Jesus do a miracle. There were most likely people there who wanted to be healed or helped. But out of all the “deserving” people in the crowd, Jesus went home with Zacchaeus. That left a lot folks really upset.
Have you ever gotten mad at God like that? He forgives someone whom you don’t think deserves forgiveness. He blesses someone you think doesn’t deserve His blessing. He shows up in someone’s life or in someone’s church who you think don’t deserve Him to show up like that. It’s one of the maddening things about God. We don’t get to control Him. We don’t get to decide for Him. We don’t get to decide whom He pours out His mercy on, His blessing on, or His favor on. We think there are a lot of us who deserve His presence, His outpouring, or His healing, but He gives it to someone else instead. So, we get disappointed, hurt, and sometimes, downright mad.
But there are two big mistakes we make in our thinking. One is that somehow God only has a limited amount of blessings He can give out. If somebody else is getting something from God, that means there is less for us. But that’s not true. There’s no limit to His grace. There’s no limit to His resources. And there’s no limit to His blessings. They are all as limitless as He is eternal. The second mistake we make is the undeserving part. No, I’m not telling you that the people who are receiving God’s blessing or outpouring deserve it. I’m quite sure that they don’t. But that’s the point. None of us do. If God shows up, pours out His goodness upon us, or lavishes His grace, mercy, or blessings upon us, it is because HE is good, not us. The people were right if they thought Zacchaeus didn’t deserve Jesus to go home with him. They just didn’t realize that they didn’t deserve Jesus to go home with them either. None of us do. That’s God’s Word for you today.