By: Aga Fatrick Sta. Ana
I stand 5 feet and 4 inches tall. My father is even shorter. So are my uncles. That’s just how is my family is.

Being short has many advantages: my head is always safe from hitting corners; when I get in line, I am always at the starting point; I can always enter through a crowd; and I am always the cutest (in the semi-annoying sense of it). However, the thing about being short that I hate the most, is the fact that I don’t always get noticed.

Whenever I read the story of Zacchaeus, I can always relate. We have one thing in common aside from shortness. He was, and I am, a big time sinner forgiven by the Savior. But what made Zacchaeus’ story special was neither his character nor his story. It what Jesus did for him. And if He did that for him, He can also do that for you.

There are two lessons that I’ve learned from the story of this short man. First, deep inside the heart of people is the desire to see the Savior. It does not matter how dark the past of a person is or how deep that person’s struggles are. Every person has an inherent desire to see the face of the Messiah. Zacchaeus had that desire, just like all of us. He wanted to see the Savior and shortness did not hinder him from doing so.

The second thing that his story taught me is the fact that Jesus sees us no matter how small we are. Imagine a crowd. Zacchaeus climbed a tree to be noticed. Nevertheless, what are the odds that Zacchaeus would be seen in such crowd even though he was on top of a tree? Zacchaeus was not seen because of anything he did – he was seen because of Jesus. He could see and notice him no matter how small he was. Jesus can see us no matter how insignificant we think we are because it’s not the size of our body or the size of our opinion of ourselves that matters, but the size of His love that makes Him notice us.

Sometimes, we think that God has forgotten us. Because of this, we try everything to get noticed. During those times, we can forget that it’s not about us. Jesus’ attention is not dependent on the things that we do or don’t do. It is dependent on God’s character. God loves us and He sees us no matter how small we think we are. All we have to do is to bring out the inherent desire to see Him, to touch Him, to talk to Him, and to be forgiven by Him, just like what Zacchaeus did. Call to Him. You are not forgotten. You don’t go unnoticed. You are loved, wanted, and cherished by no other than the Savior who loved you and gave His life for you.

Discussion Questions: What do you think keeps people from seeing themselves the way that God sees them?

See more devotions from Fatrick and our other Young Adult writers, or find our how you can become a writer yourself at our By Young Adults for Young Adults devotion page.