Make a Home with You

What the Father Promises to Those Who Love Him

Zacchaeus received Jesus with joy.

He could do no different once Jesus was revealed to him ... because Zacchaeus was also a son of Abraham — the true covenant people of the most high God.

Some knowledge of who Jesus was came to Zacchaeus’s ear. Then the full knowledge came to his home.

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today.”

Luke 19:5

Jesus of Nazareth does not literally call us out of our own lofty places so he can stay at our house.

But his Holy Spirit does.

Are we receiving the Spirit with joy or with grumbling? Are we glad to welcome him into our actual homes and our metaphorical homes in our hearts?

Or are we ashamed at what we’re hiding — what we’re doing, what we’re thinking — behind the closed doors of our hearts?

When the Holy Spirit enters our hearts, our hearts change.

In John 14, Jesus declares himself as the way, the truth and the life. No one gets to the Father except through Christ.

But how exactly does that work?

Jesus tells us.

Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

John 14:23

We love Jesus, and Yahweh makes his home with us.

So, do we love him?

Do we keep his word?

Or are we obsessed with the things of this world that aren’t going our way? Do we have a competing spirit at work in us that causes us to grumble?

A good way to gauge our life in Christ is to look at the things we love, the people we love. When we give our attention to keeping God’s word, we can give your attention to keeping God’s people.

But to keep God’s word, we must know God’s word.

We have the Bible, and we should hide its truth in our hearts.

But God’s word is not only the Bible. God’s word is Jesus Christ. And we better know the Word.

When you know Jesus and act like Jesus and see how it saves your relationships and restores your joy, you know the love of God.

Because he will stay at your house. And you in his.

To whom we cry out, “Abba! Father!”