Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance . . . and forgiveness of sins. Acts 5:31What a gracious thing for us that Jesus Christ never thinks about what we have been. He always thinks about what we are going to be!The Savior who is our Lord cares absolutely nothing about your moral case history. He forgives it and starts from there as though you had been born one minute before.
The woman of Samaria met our Lord at the well and we ask, "Why was Jesus willing to reveal so much more about Himself in this setting than He did in other encounters during His ministry?" You and I would never have chosen this woman with such a shadow lying across her life, but Jesus is the Christ of God, and He could sense the potential within her innermost being. He gave her the secret of His Messiahship and the secret of the nature of God. Her frankness and her humility appealed to the Savior as they talked of man's need and the true worship of God by the Spirit of God.
In Jesus' day, His critics said in scorn: "This man receives sinners!" They were right—and He lived and died and rose again to prove it. The blessed part is this: He is still receiving sinners!
Sent from the Mornings with Tozer, by A. W. Tozer. For devotionals like this one for your iPhone, visit us at 43rdElement.com
Lord, I have many family, friends, and coworkers who need You as their Savior.Will You receive them into Your family today?(43rdElement.com)
 | Bruce MacPherson |
It can almost sneak past us, but in Romans 5:8, Paul writes, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." (KJV) The fact that it's in the past tense -- we were sinners -- tells me that after we receive Jesus' sacrifice, we are no longer sinners. We are new creatures and sin is no longer part of our DNA. Some people like to re-bury themselves with that old saw "I'm just a sinner saved by Grace" and that just wipes out all that Jesus did for us.
ReplyDeleteWhen you get right down to it, the only ones Jesus will receive are sinners. Anyone who is not a sinner before meeting Jesus is lying to himself; anyone who is a non-sinner after meeting Jesus has already been received.