Sometimes people remember the worst thing you have done, the mistake you made, or the label someone else gave you — and forget the person underneath it.

Zacchaeus knew what it was like to be written off. A tax collector, disliked by the people around him, he was desperate just to catch a glimpse of Jesus. So he climbed a sycamore tree. But Jesus did something Zacchaeus probably never expected. He stopped, called him by name, and chose to go to his house — despite the crowd grumbling that Jesus was going to the home of a sinner.

What makes this story in Luke 19 so powerful for our lives today? Jesus did not allow public opinion to determine how He saw Zacchaeus. He did not ask Zacchaeus to fix his reputation before He came near him. Instead, love came first. And that love produced a response — Zacchaeus repented, gave generously to the poor, and made restitution to those he had wronged.

Jesus Himself said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.” (Matthew 9:12)

Grace moves toward the people everyone else writes off.

And underneath all of this is one foundation: love.

Jesus said that the greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and the second is to love our neighbour as ourselves. On these two commandments, He said, depend the whole Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 22:37–40)

The Bible tells us that faith, hope, and love remain — but the greatest of these is love. We spoke about faith when David stood before Goliath. We spoke about hope when a man suffering from leprosy believed Jesus could change his situation. And today, we come to love.

But why is love the greatest?

Because, as 1 Corinthians 13:8 tells us, love never fails.

And what does love actually look like? The Bible does not leave us guessing. 1 Corinthians 13 describes love through patience, kindness, humility, forgiveness, perseverance, and putting others before ourselves.

So what does it look like to choose love when someone has judged you? When a relationship is difficult? When someone has disappointed you? And what happens when we allow God's definition of love — rather than the world's — to shape the way we live?

Perhaps love really is the one thing that holds everything together.

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What is one relationship where you can choose love first today?

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