Today’s
Passage: Luke 19:6-10
“Zacchaeus…took Jesus to his house in great excitement and joy. But
the people were displeased. ‘He has gone to be the guest of a notorious
sinner,’ they grumbled…‘Salvation has come to this home today…For the Son of
Man came to seek and save those who are lost.’”
Words
of Devotion
Rufus McDaniel was a lifelong Christian. Born in 1850,
he pastored several churches throughout Ohio and wrote more than 100 hymns. In
1913, he experienced the tragic death of his son, Herschel. As he had done so
often, he sought to express his thoughts in a hymn: “Since Jesus Came Into My
Heart.”
The words can seem as though they were written by a new Believer. Yet, dealing
with a tragedy, McDaniel wrote how “a wonderful change in my life has been
wrought.” How light had come into his soul, and he had “ceased from my
wandering and going astray.” How his sins were “washed away.”
Jesus had given him a “steadfast and sure” hope. Doubts were gone, and instead
“there’s a light in the valley of death now for me.” He even had hope for the
future as he could see “the gates of the City beyond.”
McDaniel knew he would “go there to dwell in that City.” Perhaps thinking about
his son, this thought made him “happy, so happy, as onward I go.” He repeated,
with certainty, that “floods of joy o’er my soul like the sea billows roll,
since Jesus came into my heart.”
Lives change when Jesus comes into our hearts. Rufus McDaniel knew this. And so
did Zacchaeus. He was a tax collector, hated by the common people and
called “a notorious sinner.” Yet Jesus completely changed his life
and brought him “great excitement and joy.”
Today:Do you know anyone who is troubled? Who needs help? Who needs salvation?
Remember: Jesus still changes lives. He can transform not only your life, but
also those you love.
Today's Prayer: Father, I commit these people into your hands: ___________.
Thank You for intervening and changing them. Use me to impact lives for Your
Kingdom. In Jesus’ name. Amen
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