Heart Tracks - The "Meet Up"

"When Jesus came by, He looked up at Zacchaeus and called him by name. 'Zacchaeus,' He said, 'Quick, come down. For I must be a guest in your home today.' Zacchaeus quickly climbed down and took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy." Luke 19:5-6........"He told Zacchaeus He was going home with him. Christ wants to live with us, not merely meet us at church." Vance Havner

"Meet-ups" are a fairly common term these days. People have them all the time; in coffee shops, restaurants, pretty much anyplace at all. The church has been having meet-ups for centuries. Mostly on Sunday mornings, but we've extended them into various times and ways during the week as well. These are the official "meet-up" places, but we have un-official ones as well. They take place in what we call our morning or evening devotions, and other ways as well. All of them are times we designate, set aside, to meet-up with Jesus. They can vary in time length, but one things seems common with all of them. When they're over, so is our time spent in His presence. We then "get on with life," and too often, it's a life lived without a conscious presence of Him. Our meet-ups with Him may be valued by us, but they don't really define us. We may meet with Him anywhere, but we rarely take Him with us everywhere. Especially as concerns the thoughts, attitudes, practices and so on that we feel most "at home" with. We like to meet with Him, we don't really want to live with Him.

Wherever Christ ministered, there were great crowds. Many were just curiosity seekers. They wanted to see what all the talk was about. They were content to stand off at a distance....and remain unchanged. Others were more aggressive. They pressed in on Him, but their desire wasn't really for Him, but what He could give them. They may have touched Him, but they didn't lay hold of Him. Is this really any different from much of what we call "Church" today? In our gatherings, there doesn't seem to be any lack of those who are very content to keep their distance from Him. They join in the songs, listen to the sermon....kind of, but they never encounter Him. Spectators, they leave the same as they came. Others, like the crowd pressing in, come with expectations of receiving something from Him. They want a meet-up in order to secure an answer to some need. This is not wrong in itself, but what's missing is any deep longing for Him. In His grace and mercy, the need may be met, but their heart is untouched. Yet what marked Zacchaeus, and some few others like Him, is they were determined to have something more. Zacchaeus, a tax collector and man of means, and likely known and feared by all, was willing to look the fool in their eyes by climbing a tree. So deep was His desire to see Jesus. There was a longing in his heart that no words can really describe. Jesus saw it, and of all the crowd around Him, it was Zacchaeus whose home he went to. Neither Jesus or Zacchaeus would be satisfied with a meet-up. Jesus wanted to be where Zacchaeus lived. Zacchaeus wanted Him to be there as well. Do we?

Preachers, teachers, watchers and listeners, we all need to put an end to our religious meet-ups. We need to live ever more fully in His heart, as He comes to live every more deeply in ours. In this, we become more and more at home in each other. In our corporate times, and private ones as well, we live with each other, and we all live fully in Him.There is no time when we are not conscious of this. Curiosity seekers and mere petitioners for His help will not know this place. Only those willing to go out on a limb to "see" Him will. I want to be such a one. I want to be part of such a Church. Do you? Or will you be content to just be a face in the crowd? Curiosity seeker. Petitioner. But not a dweller in Him.

Blessings,
Pastor O