The Greatest Motivator in the World

By Jacob Dahl, Resonate Ellensburg

Zacchaeus undoubtedly felt ridiculous as he scaled the fig tree. 

Even if he was short, what was a wealthy, grown man doing climbing ten feet in the air to catch a glimpse of a traveling peasant rabbi? 

Unsurprisingly, the rabbi noticed the grown man perched in the tree as he approached. What happened next, however, shocked the gathered crowd.

Jesus exclaimed, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately! I must stay at your house today.” (Luke 19:5).

Zacchaeus was beside himself. He hopped to the ground (imaginatively in a parkour roll) and bounded his way home. Jesus had just invited himself over to his house. The thought was overwhelming.

The people muttered about it, and, in their defense, understandably so: Jesus willfully associated himself with a public enemy like Zacchaeus, who had ubiquitously abused his tax-collection authority, was not a good look. 

Nevertheless, it quickly became evident that in the presence of Jesus, Zacchaeus was radically and eternally changed. 

What exactly happened to Zacchaeus in his house that day? What led to such an immediate transformation? 

Grace. 

When Zacchaeus came face to face with the God who knew the depths of his sin yet instead of deservedly rejecting him (like his countrymen had) loved him unconditionally, he was finished. The grace of Jesus instantly shattered Zacchaeus. His response? 

Energized obedience. 

Anybody who has truly experienced the grace that Jesus offers can testify to the forceful nature of the response that follows. 

Salvation began to manifest in Zacchaeus as he connected his new spiritual reality to his physical, and committed to reconcile the many relationships he had severed. Because his eternal debt with God had been settled, he came under a new joyful obligation to love others as he had been loved by Jesus.

This is what theologian Dallas Willard referred to as “grace driven effort” that springs from a new heart. When grace grips us, the natural response is to throw ourselves into actively joining God in his kingdom mission. 

Author David Murray posits in his book “Reset” that the Church today is operating in a deficit of grace, specifically noting a lack of its “motivating and moderating power.” Instead of being energized toward the kingdom, Christians are marked by exhaustion, anxiety, and fear:

Without motivating grace, we just rest in Christ. Without moderating grace, we just run and run--until we run out. We need the first grace to fire us up when we’re dangerously cold; we need the second to cool us down when we’re dangerously hot. The first gets us out of bed; the second gets us to bed on time. The first recognizes Christ’s fair demands upon us; the second receives Christ’s full provision for us. The first says, “Present your body a living sacrifice”; the second says, “Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.” The first overcomes the resistance of our “flesh”; the second respects the limitations of our humanity. The first speeds us up; the second slows us down. The first says, “My son, give me your hands”; the second says, “My son, give me your heart.”

Many believers have experienced a “Zacchaeus moment” —they can describe an encounter with God where his grace saved them and temporarily energized them. But often over time that spiritual energy fades. The fervor that they had for their walk with Jesus begins to lose momentum because grace is misunderstood to be a one-and-done moment, rather than a continual process. 

Grace is dynamic, not static.  The Holy Spirit’s influence in our lives does not end when we receive Christ, but in fact he is finishing the work he began in us. Grace brings us into the family of God and it continues to keep us in the family of God. This amazing grace both “saves the wretch” and “leads us home.”

If the resurrection is true, Christians walk the streets with a “living hope that cannot perish” (1 Peter 1:3) and “incomparably great power” (Ephesians 1:19). Because our eternity is secure, we are compelled to live differently in the meantime. The grace of Jesus is sufficient for us, motivating us toward a life of spiritual energy and moderating us toward a life of sonship. 

The key question then becomes, how does grace not only energize us for a moment but for a lifetime? It must be intentionally cultivated. 

Here are some practical ways to do so.

Remember where you came from. 

Spiritual lethargy is often the result of gospel neglect. If we don’t remind ourselves of the redemption offered to us in Christ, we are dangerously allowing grace’s fire to burn out. We must stoke our hearts daily. Remembrance leads to obedience.

Tell the story. 

When you share the gospel with someone, particularly when you do so in the context of your own salvation story, it has an energizing effect. I am convinced that God intentionally designed it to work this way. Joy is grace activated. 

Reject passivity.

As the people of God, we possess eternal purpose. There is no shortage of ways to join God in his redemptive work in the world. Though our culture, bodies, and economies may war against us, we are called to embrace life in the Spirit with all zeal and energy. Get up early, get in the Word, chase hard after Jesus, and watch him set you ablaze.

If we are in Christ, we are no longer dead but made alive because of his grace. One day we’ll stand beside Zaccaheaus and the heavenly hosts singing the praises of our God forevermore. But until that day, there is still more work to be done. 

And that grace, my friends, is the greatest motivator in the world.