Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video with from Phillips, Craig, and Dean singing their song … He’ll Do Whatever It Takes … poignantly singing of the lengths God will go to save and sanctify those who’re lost in His kingdom.
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Highlight Verse[s]: Luke 19:10 [NLT] … 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”
… Jesus tells Zacchaeus (and us) just how far He will go to save those who are lost.
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Highlight Passage [context]: Luke 19:1-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus seeking out one like Zacchaeus shows just how much God seeks the lost to bring them back into His loving arms.
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Reference Passage : … Luke 15:1-7, 11-24 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep and the prodigal illustrates just how far our Good Shepherd will go to seek out a lost lamb from His flock or a prodigal son to lavish His love on them.
Reference Passage : … John 3:16-17 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… And that’s how far God was (and is) willing to go to save and sanctify His children.
Reference Passage : … Revelation 3:20 [NLT] … Luke 19:10 [NLT] … 20 “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear My voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.
… Jesus so wants his wayward ones to open the door of our hearts and let Him in to share His saving/sanctifying grace with us.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Joe Stowell, used a story of a mother seeking a lost child in a crowd to illustrate just how much love God had in sending His Son to save His lost children. The ODB author wrote: A few years ago, a friend of mine lost track of her young son while walking through a swarm of people at Union Station in Chicago. Needless to say, it was a terrifying experience. Frantically, she yelled his name and ran back up the escalator, retracing her steps in an effort to find her little boy. The minutes of separation seemed like hours, until suddenly—thankfully—her son emerged from the crowd and ran to the safety of her arms [see photo].
Thinking of my friend who would have done anything to find her child, fills me with a renewed sense of gratitude for the amazing work God did to save us.
The ODB author’s story certainly puts a human spin on just how desperately God would seek to find one of His lost children. He’s been called “the Hound of Heaven,” because our Lord will go to all measures to bring a lost lamb back into the flock, just as Jesus illustrated that quality of the Good Shepherd in His parable of the lost lamb (see Luke 15:1-7) or in His story about the prodigal.
And the highlight passage of Jesus being willing to save a reprobate like Zacchaeus shows just how far God will go to bring someone to Himself. And that’s why I so identify with today’s OBD story and with the song Phillips, Craig, and Dean sings in the linked song … as well as Jesus reaching out to save one like Zacchaeus. My emotional tie to these scenarios is just how far and how long Jesus came after me when I was an angry atheist, deeply into habitual sexual sin, … a reprobate like Zacchaeus, whom Jesus, as the Good Shepherd, was willing to seek out and to save His wayward and lost lamb (me).
But He did!! … And in His prevenient grace, God reached out to save me! And now as the song proclaims, He’s doing all He can to hug me just as the mother hugs her foundling in the attached photo. And even more my Lord is willing (and able) to make me over in His own image [bonus verse - check out Phil. 1:6 on your own].
So, … if you feel estranged from God, either a lost lamb or one of His children in need of a loving do-over, … come to Him and as it says in Rev. 3:20, and He’ll be there to come to you, as He did for the prodigal son [also in Luke 15], and just as He did - and is doing - for me.
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … Precious Spirit … O Lord, thank You for coming after me as the Hound of Heaven. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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