Day 309 · Thursday, November 5
He Came to Seek
"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”"LUKE 19:10
Transcript
Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 309, He Came to Seek.
"For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." Luke 19:10.
This sentence is born out of a very specific scene. Jesus is passing through Jericho, and there is a man named Zacchaeus — chief tax collector, wealthy, and despised by almost everyone in the city. He wants to see Jesus, but he's too short to see over the crowd. So he does something no man of his position would do: he climbs a tree, like a child, just to get a glimpse.
And Jesus stops right under that tree, looks up, and calls Zacchaeus by name. "Hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today." Notice this: Jesus didn't wait for Zacchaeus to climb down, explain himself, justify himself first. He took the initiative. He looked up first.
And the crowd reacts exactly as you'd expect: they grumble, they complain, they say Jesus has gone to stay at the house of a sinner. In their eyes, this was a mistake, almost a scandal. But what the crowd saw as impurity, Jesus saw as a target. Not by accident — on purpose.
And it's right there, inside Zacchaeus's house — not in a temple, not in a synagogue, but at the table of a man everyone avoided — that Jesus speaks the sentence that sums up His entire mission on earth: "For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost."
Notice the order of the verbs: seek comes before save. That matters. Because Zacchaeus hadn't yet given anything back, hadn't yet repented publicly, when Jesus had already gone after him. Zacchaeus's transformation — paying back four times what he stole, giving half his goods to the poor — comes after, as fruit. But Jesus's seeking comes first, as the cause. Grace always arrives first.
I want to ask you: is there some part of you still hiding up in a tree, hoping to catch a glimpse of Jesus from a distance without being seen by Him? Maybe you think you need to get yourself together first, sort out certain habits, explain yourself, before you deserve His attention. But this story says the opposite. Jesus looks up first. He calls by name first. He invites Himself into your house before anything is in order.
This sentence isn't only about Zacchaeus. It's about why Jesus came to earth, full stop. He didn't come to judge from a distance those who were already lost. He came to seek, up close, with a name and an address, until He found them.
So today, if there's an area of your life where you're still hiding — climb down from the tree. In prayer, name that specific area to Jesus, and welcome Him into your house, the way Zacchaeus did, with joy and without excuses.
Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.
TO ONE DESPISED BY THE CITY
Jesus says this in the house of Zacchaeus, a tax collector rejected by everyone. The sentence that sums up Christ's mission is born in the most unlikely place: at the table no one else wanted to sit at.
HE CAME — HE DIDN'T WAIT
The verb is active: came. Jesus did not wait for Zacchaeus to climb up to Him. He Himself took the initiative to look up, call him by name, and invite Himself into his house.
SEEKING BEFORE SAVING
The order matters: seeking comes first. Before any visible transformation in Zacchaeus's life, Jesus had already gone after him. Grace always arrives before the change does.
LOST IS NOT DESPISED
The whole crowd grumbled because Jesus was staying at the house of a sinner. But what the crowd saw as impurity, Jesus saw as a specific target of His mission.
ONE SENTENCE, THE WHOLE MISSION
No other verse sums up so well why Jesus came to earth. He did not come to judge from a distance; He came to seek up close, with a name and an address, until He found the one who was lost.
LET YOURSELF BE FOUND TODAY
Act: if there is an area of your life where you are still hiding, climb down today — in prayer, name that area to Jesus and welcome Him into your house the way Zacchaeus did.