LHM Daily Devotion - May 3, 2017 "At the Crossroads "

Mr. Julannan lives in the Middle East.   Mr. Julannan is a family man...

Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries

By Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of The Lutheran Hour

"At the Crossroads"

May 3, 2017

Matthew 11:4-6 - And Jesus answered them, "Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not offended by Me."

Mr. Julannan lives in the Middle East.

Mr. Julannan is a family man with a wife and children. He works in construction and makes a reasonable salary. This is all you probably need to know about Mr. Julannan except for the fact that he liked to drink and he didn't like Jesus.

How much did Mr. Julannan dislike Jesus?

• When people gave him Christian pamphlets, Mr. Julannan took them and set the pamphlets on fire.
• When he saw Christians gathered together in outside worship, he would often spit at them.

Things didn't get better when Mr. Julannan had a few beers. Alcohol made him abusive and not just to the Savior, but to his family and neighbors as well. Of course, that only lasted until he passed out.

That is the way things were and that is the way things would have stayed -- except for God's intervention. You see, the Lord took Mr. Julannan to a crossroads moment: to a place in time when he had to face facts. Some people would call it a "come to Jesus" moment.

That moment began when Mr. Julannan was traveling home from work and went by an open-air Christian rally. He heard the preacher's amplified voice call out: Jesus is help for your sins; Jesus is always before you, but you are causing Him pain with your sins. It is time to confess those sins to your Savior; it is time to be brought to faith; it is time to be forgiven and saved."

This time those words didn't infuriate Mr. Julannan. No, this time they just got him to thinking.

The next day, as he traveled to work, Mr. Julannan was still thinking. That's probably why he didn't notice the train barreling down on him until it was too late. People screamed as they saw the train hit him, knock him down, and go over the top of him.

When the train was gone, the people at the crossing went to look for a corpse. Rather than a corpse, they found a living Mr. Julannan. Excitedly he told how the train knocked him down between the tracks, where he called on Jesus for help. Mr. Julannan told everybody, "I know my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ saved me from what should have been a horrible tragedy!"

It was a crossroad moment that changed Mr. Julannan who now, with his wife, hands out Bibles.

I like that story and share it with you for a reason.

Many of you are worried about someone who is near and dear to you. This is someone who has little use for the Savior or anyone who talks about Him. If that is the case, I encourage you to remember, the Lord often sends crossroad moments to both believers and unbelievers.

It is when people are helpless that God's loving power becomes most obvious and most effective. It is then your words, your concerns, your prayers will become amplified and by God's grace a lost soul may be saved.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, I don't know what it will take for this special person in my life to be brought to faith in Jesus. I pray that You will reach out to them and set their eyes on the Savior. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen

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