“For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.” Luke 19:10

Day 1 of VBS has come and gone, but its message is still swirling around in my thoughts. It is the first day finished of a week where children are soaking in the knowledge that: Jesus sees them, Jesus knows everything about them, and Jesus can save them. The beautiful message of the gospel laid out – simply.

I couldn’t help but feel the conviction setting in my own spirit as I shared with a group of first grade children the story of a man despised and rejected, because of his own dishonesty and greed. He deserved nothing, yet Jesus sought him out from a crowd, looked into his ugly and broken soul and gave him the fulfillment, hope and worth he had been missing all his life. A man changed…a man saved, because Jesus sought out and loved the unlovely and unloveable.

I think of the many reasons Jesus should never have stopped moving through the crowd to seek me out. Yet, in knowing all my ways unlovely: He sought me, drew me in and saved me. Oh, such wondrous love.

Doesn’t this kind of love, grace and redemption received, deserve a multiplied reflection in my own life? 

I can’t help but think of the those who I seek, the ones I am breaking bread with…do I seek the unlovely in the same way Lovely sought me? Does the result of my redemption have me going above and beyond in what I am giving to others for the sake of the kingdom? Is it shared, that which most desperately needs to be shared- the good news of the gospel message?

Friends, the story of Zacchaeus points us to the One whose very design was to save, when there was no other means or way to be saved. It points us to Jesus. The words of this week’s motto at VBS, have become the beautiful song of my heart: “Jesus sees. Jesus knows. Jesus saves.”
Stay tuned for Day 2…another day of reflection and a personal favorite Bible story.

*VBS source: LifeWay Christian Resources – Submerged