The Allure of Jesus’ Love

9 As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office. And He said to him, "Follow Me." So he arose and followed Him.

Matthew 9:9

When Jesus "witnessed" to Matthew - He did not hand him a Bible tract, or warn him of the impending dangers of Hell's flames; neither did He anxiously recite Bible verses in the hope of changing his life-long beliefs there and then on the spot. No, He simply spoke from a heart of overwhelming and irresistible love. Jesus never pleaded and begged people to come to Him – He simply drew the crowds; people often followed Him wherever He went, even before He uttered a word to them.

² Now behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus who was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.

³ And he sought to see who Jesus was, but could not because of the crowd, for he was of short stature.

⁴ So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was going to pass that way.

⁵ And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him, and said to him, "Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house."

⁶ So he made haste and came down, and received Him joyfully.

⁷ But when they saw it, they all complained, saying, "He has gone to be a guest with a man who is a sinner."

⁸ Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold."

⁹ And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham;

¹⁰ for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."

Luke 19:2-10 nkjv

Jesus did not have to beg Zacchaeus to invite him to dinner. No, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings simply spoke and the man obeyed Him. Just as with Jesus, as soon as we as Christians start spending time with the unsaved, we get accused by the rule keepers that we are doing something wrong, that we will go astray if we do so. Spending time with people who have the love of God can bring about immediate transformation in the hearts and minds of other people – even those who do not yet profess to believing in Jesus.

Just as with Zacchaeus the chief tax collector – if we truly love and serve the Lord from a genuine heart of love – we will see its effects on those people around us. This is what it is, I believe, to be the “light of the world”. We don’t have to be right – just genuine, kind and honest – God will do the rest. Jesus did not “Bible bash” Zacchaeus with versus of scripture on how we should be kind to others and do good unto them. No, Jesus simply loved him and watched as love did its work by itself.

¹⁶ We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in him.God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.

¹⁷ And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we are like Christ here in this world.

¹⁸ Such love has no fear because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of judgment, and this shows that his love has not been perfected in us.

¹⁹ We love each other as a result of his loving us first.

²⁰ If someone says, "I love God," but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don't love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we have not seen?

²¹ And God himself has commanded that we must love not only him but our Christian brothers and sisters, too.

1 John 4:16-21 NLT