When I entered into my freshman year in high school I knew absolutely no one. I would eat my lunch alone. It was a very lonely point in my life. Although things changed pretty quickly, I will never forget that time period and how much I longed for friendship.

 

In Luke 19, we meet a man named Zacchaeus who was a tax collector and in those days tax collectors were notoriously dishonest which made them extremely unpopular. He probably ate a few lunches alone....for years or even decades. Zacchaeus is up in a tree trying to see Jesus walk by when Jesus calls up to him saying, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today." He must have been completely shocked that Jesus even knew his name.

 

Now most of us are not unpopular like Zacchaeus. At least not on any kind of level like that. But we all are sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God.  On our own doing, we have no place asking anything of God. We deserve to be separated from Him forever. But God in his loving nature didn't leave things like that. John 15:15 (ESV) says, "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you." God calls us his friends. And like when he ate with Zacchaeus, he wants to spend intimate time with us.  That's insane when you think about it.

 

As you go about your day today, cherish the thought that God, the creator of the universe and everything in it, knows your name and wants to spend time with you. Remember how simple Zacchaeus' response is to Jesus in allowing him to eat with him.