Are You Short? (KJV)

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) “Are you short?” This is a question that comes up many times in a lifetime due to the simple fact that we tend to always evaluate every area of our lives. What does it mean to be ‘short’? It simply means to have little length or little height; in other words, to miss the mark by just a little length. And this could be in any area of life—in one’s finances, affluence, education, career status or even in stature.  When people feel this insufficiency, they do everything within their capacity to bridge that gap in search of fulfillment. Let me tell you a story about a very rich man who was literally short and what he did to make up for his height and achieve his goal. “And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And, behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the publicans, and he was rich. And he sought to see Jesus who He was; and could not for the press, because he was little of stature. And he ran before, and climbed up into a sycomore tree to see Him: for he was to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up, and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste, and come down; for to day I must abide at thy house” (Luke 19:1-5). His name was Zacchaeus, and according to the story he sought to see Jesus—that was his ultimate definition of fulfilment: just to see Jesus! But he was a man of little stature and the crowd was much. So what did he do? He observed the direction Jesus was heading and he ran before Him and climbed a tree. His story is very similar to ours. Many of us today are also looking for fulfillment. Zacchaeus climbed a tree to make that happen—and we do the same! The question to you therefore is “what tree are you on?”  The world gives many options of trees to climb to make up for your shortness—trees to climb to get you to the height of fulfilment that you desire—the likes of the tree of hard drugs, pornography, adultery, fornication, severe debt, lies, theft, to name a few. For Zacchaeus, here’s the good news: when Jesus came to his place, He looked up, and saw him. Jesus asked him to come down and offered him something much more fulfilling than just seeing Him—Jesus went with Zacchaeus and dwelt with him. My friend, the same is true for you today! The good news today is that Jesus is at your place and He’s urging you to come down from that tree that you are on. He is willing to dwell in your heart and be your Friend forever! Do you know why Jesus wants you to come down from that tree? It is because He had already climbed a more significant tree for you (THE CROSS) and there is no room for two of you on that tree, so He’s asking you again to please come down.  He’s telling you today that you are just a little short from having His glory on your life and He’s willing to make up for that if you can just say YES to His invitation today. He wants to save you from the two consequences of your sins: to make you a loser of God’s glory and to make you eternally separated from God. Jesus doesn’t want that for you so He climbed the tree on your behalf to enable you to make up for your shortage. I know the question on your mind now is “how do I make up for this shortage?” It is very simple; Jesus provided the answer, He said you must be BORN AGAIN.  “Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). And how do you become born again? Jesus provided the answer as well. He said, “Whosoever therefore shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before My Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 10:32).  How do you do that? What do you confess? I can help you with that. If you will like me to introduce you to this Jesus, please read this confession out loud:  Lord Jesus, come in to my life today. I confess You before men that You become my Lord and Savior; I choose to follow You from now on. I give my life to You. Thank You for Your love for me. Amen. When you put your trust in Jesus Christ, who died for your sin and rose again, you are no longer short of God’s glory, and you have the gift of eternal life. Welcome to the family of God!