Scripture Scribbles: October 30, 2022

the Gospel

Luke 19:1-10

At that time, Jesus came to Jericho and intended to pass through the town.

Now a man there named Zacchaeus,

who was a chief tax collector and also a wealthy man,

was seeking to see who Jesus was;

but he could not see him because of the crowd,

for he was short in stature.

So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore tree in order to see Jesus,

who was about to pass that way.

When he reached the place, Jesus looked up and said,

"Zacchaeus, come down quickly,

for today I must stay at your house."

And he came down quickly and received him with joy.

When they all saw this, they began to grumble, saying,

"He has gone to stay at the house of a sinner."

But Zacchaeus stood there and said to the Lord,

"Behold, half of my possessions, Lord, I shall give to the poor,

and if I have extorted anything from anyone

I shall repay it four times over."

And Jesus said to him,

"Today salvation has come to this house

because this man too is a descendant of Abraham.

For the Son of Man has come to seek

and to save what was lost."

the devotion

Jesus knows our hearts.

I think sometimes it is easy to forget this. Even if on some level we have come to understand that the Lord can hear our thoughts and that He is with us all the time, it is easy to forget this in the day to day busyness of life.

We go through our life with these little compartments that we tell ourselves are hidden from the world. And yet, the Lord knows every detail of them. He sees what we are doing, what we are thinking. He knows what our intention behind every action is. He sees when we tuck something away because it hurts too much, when our feelings are hurt by an offhand comment, or when we nurse that grudge we’ve clung to for years.

The Lord knows your heart. Every little bit of it. And He still loves it.

He sees you how He created you. He sees your ultimate good, with all of the hurt, sin, and brokenness, healed and made new. Like Zacchaeus, He is always willing to seek you out in a crowd. He is always willing to come find you when you get lost. The moment you seek to find Him again, the moment you are ready to repent, He calls us to Him, receives us with joy, and comes to stay in our house.

If you ever feel afraid or hesitant to let it allllllll out to the Lord, know that He already sees the most ugly parts of it and He still loves you through it. He longs for you to bring every little bit to Him so that He can heal it and make it new. He is drawn to the broken parts of our hearts and lives. He asks to be invited into them so that He can raise the dead to new life. We see this over and over again in the Scriptures. Whenever someone is vulnerable, bringing their brokenness into the light, He meets them right where they are, heals them, and blesses them abundantly. God responds to our openness. He is always knocking, waiting to be let in.

The Lord already knows our hearts. He already sees what you’ve been holding back. And He already loves you through it.

Don’t ever be afraid to bear your honest and complete self, all of your thoughts, your mind, your heart, your soul, to Him. He is waiting for you.

Today’s devotion was written by Rachel Smith