Save!

John Dailey

On Sunday the crowds welcome Jesus, waving palm branches, laying their coats in the road in front of Him, and shouting, “Hosanna!” By Friday, these same people will be  shouting insults and crying to Pilate, “Crucify!” How could they turn their backs on the Messiah so quickly?

But the story of Palm Sunday is my own as well. How often I find   myself praising Jesus for all He has done for me, and then the next minute dishonoring and betraying Him with my thoughts and actions? I am too quick to listen to the whisperings of Satan tempting me to abandon my Lord? Like the people in Jerusalem, I look elsewhere when God’s direction or timing don’t fit my own. Left to myself, I would be lost.

Jesus knew what the people would be doing by Friday and yet He continued into the city on that Sunday. Because of His great love for us, He could do nothing but move toward the cross just as He planned. I am a recipient of that same grace today. Every time I sin against Jesus I know that when I come to Him in repentance, He welcomes me with open arms and forgives me completely. He does this without hesitation, not because I  deserve it or earn it, but because He wants me to be one of His children. This is the Good News we take with us into our lives so we can tell others that salvation is freely offered to them by  virtue of the Master’s death and resurrection.

We pray:

Dear Jesus, Thank You for loving me so much that You willingly went to the cross to save me from my sin. Strengthen my heart each day so that I will be bold to go where You lead and spread the Good News of Your free gift to all. Amen.