Devotional: Repent and Move On

Luke 19:1-10

“Zaccheus stopped and said to the Lord, ‘Behold Lord, half of my possessions I give to the poor, and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much’” (Luke 19:8, NASB).

This morning I woke up and went to my place for praying. Usually, it is a routine prayer making mention of family, friends, and church. On any given day there are additional persons and issues prayed about based on the needs of others that I know about. Today, as I begin to pray, God led me to pray especially for myself. I confessed that while I diligently pray for those on my prayer list, I don’t spend much time praying for myself. I confessed that I too have many of the same needs of those who I pray for. I repented to God for neglecting my own needs in my prayer life. After praying for myself and repenting of my sins I felt free to continue my editing of today’s article.

In our story, Zaccheus is a tax collector. He is despised by his fellow Jews because he collects taxes for the hated Romans who rule over the Jews. Tax collectors not only collect taxes for the Romans; they also cheat the people out of their money. At some point Zaccheus hears about Jesus. When Jesus nears his table Zaccheus climbs into a tree so that he can see Jesus. When Jesus calls him down from the tree (vv. 6-7) Zaccheus responds to Jesus’ invitation by repenting of his sins against his fellow countrymen.

Jesus accepts Zaccheus’ confession and repentance and tells the crowd that salvation has come to this despised tax collector. Zaccheus repents and he is free to move on.