Keep trying and trying...

"Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved" Matthew 24:12,13

       Zacchaeus! Did you ever hear of him? What do you know of him? Let us count up all the things we know about him. He was a Jew, but he was in the employ of the Roman government, and was thought of as a traitor to his country. He was rich, and had a fine house in the city of Jericho. He was a success in life, and was the chief man among the publicans or tax collectors. He was very small, and could not see over the heads of other people when in a crowd. He was anxious to see Jesus, so he pushed his way out of the crowd, climbed up a tree, and there he saw Jesus, and Jesus saw him, and they became friends. You remember the story. Zacchaeus when he found he could not see Jesus because of the great crowd did not turn away and go home. He tried again, and overcame all obstacles and at last found himself with Jesus as his guest in his own house.
       The only way to succeed is to try. Even the birds and the cattle fail and try again, until they win. The beautiful salmon that swim in the great rivers and the beautiful trout that dart so quickly from stone to stone leap the rapids and falls of the rivers and go up and up to the head waters where they make their homes. In a great rushing river with its seething currents, its spray and foam, you can see the great salmon again and again jump out of the water and make a flying leap up the rushing, roaring waterfall. Some fail, but others try and try again and when they win they rush far up the stream where they make their homes and lay their eggs. There are just two kinds of fish in the sea, swimmers and drifters, and there are just two kinds of people. There are those who drift with the current and do what every one else does, and there are those who direct their lives according to a purpose.
       Did you ever hear the proverb, “God helps those who help themselves,” which means that God gives aid to those who try? There is an interesting story about William Carey, the great missionary to India. You know he was a cobbler, and in his shop he had a map of the world and thought about the world and prayed for it, and at last God called him to go out to India as one of the first missionaries. He was a great man. His motto was:

“Expect great things from God.
Attempt great things for God.”

He overcame many things by trying and he learned this great lesson in his early life.
       When he was a boy he was very ambitious and never permitted anything to beat him if he could help it. In his play as well as in his work he always wanted to succeed. There was a tree near his home that none of his friends had been able to climb. He was eager to climb that tree and tried and tried again but always failed. But he said, “It shall not beat me. I mean to climb that tree.''
       So every day he tried to climb the tree, but made no progress. One day, however, after tearing his clothes and scratching his legs he got more than half way up, when down he fell, all in a heap, and when he tried to get up he could not. His leg was broken.
       He was just a lad and he suffered a great deal. For six long weeks he lay on his little bed unable to get up. Then he began to walk around the house and soon he was out in the yard. What do you think he did? Well, the first thing he did was to go to that very tree and try to climb it again and he did. He went to the top and down again and he was satisfied.
       That was the stuff out of which the great missionary hero was made. Little wonder he is still remembered for the great work he did in India. It was the same talent to keep on and to try again that brought Zacchaeus face to face with Jesus. Let nothing keep you from Jesus, your best friend. Take for your motto the words of William Carey:

“Expect great things from God.
Attempt great things for God.”

Phil Wickham sings "Great Things"