431 Over It Not Under It

What is in your way? What is blocking you from moving forward in your life? Are you ready and willing to start climbing over that today? As a teenager growing up I used to bellyache to my mama about any little thing I didn’t like in my life and she would sit and listen, then once I was finished going on and on about how bad it was she would say “ahhhhhh, get over it.” Every time that was her advice. Get over it. What’s wrong in your world today? Will you get over it, or will you get under it? Will you rise above it, or will you lower your expectations, hunker down in fear and lay low while life passes you by? Why would you ever get UNDER your problems? Yet, that’s exactly what we do when we chose not to get over it. Whatever is in your way, I’m telling you today is the day to start getting over it. Start climbing. In Luke 19: 1-6 We read about a man who got over the things that were in his way. “Jesus entered and walked through Jericho. There was a man there, his name Zacchaeus, the head tax man and quite rich. He wanted desperately to see Jesus, but the crowd was in his way—he was a short man and couldn’t see over the crowd.” What did Zacchaeus want? He wanted to see Jesus. And scripture says he wanted it desperately. When you want something desperately you’re willing to do things you wouldn’t normally do. What do you want desperately? Oh, there’s the problem. We’ve learned to insulate ourselves out of fear of failure and rejection so we’re not even allowed to want anything desperately anymore. We feel it’s safer to just “kinda” want something. If you only kinda want it and you don’t get it, then it only kinda hurts. We kinda live the life we want. We kinda find our purpose. We kinda feel fulfilled. We’re kinda getting better, but kinda not. And it’s all a result of kinda wanting it. Where’s your “desperately”? When you desperately want it, you’ll be moved to action. You’ll find the courage to do big things. That’s what Zacchaeus had. He had some desperate want in him. He wanted to see Jesus. But there was something in his way. Every time you desperately want something, there will be something else in your way. Obstacles are part of life. God never said it would be easy, in fact he promised you otherwise. He told you “in this world there will be trouble.” Well, he nailed that one didn’t he. Jesus you were right, in this world, I do have trouble and every time I really want something, there’s something in my way. Hey that’s life … and maybe it’s by design. Let’s pick back up in verse 4 of our story: “So Zacchaeus ran on ahead and climbed up in a sycamore tree so he could see Jesus when he came by. 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.’ So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully.” Zacchaeus was a small man. So small he couldn’t see over the shoulders of the people in front of him. The crowd of people was in his way. It was stopping him from that which he desperately wanted. So he did what could do, he climbed up in a tree. He climbed above the very thing blocking him from his vision. He climbed above it. Did you get that? He got over it. Just as my mama always told me – whatever your problem is, GET OVER IT! Mama, that was scriptural! Her advice was grounded in the words of Jesus. Get over it! Some of us need to do some climbing today. We’ve got a problem and we need to get over it – literally. What’s the first step in climbing? Well, you gotta get up, again literally. Your feet need to hit the floor. You can’t be laying around all lazy and drag butty expecting to overcome your obstacles.