August 4

Posted on Aug 4, 2023

Nineteenth century evangelist William Taylor tells the story of a prisoner awaiting his execution. Various Christians visited him in his death row cell, but all they said seemed only to make him harder and more resistent to the gospel. Then, writes Taylor, the townspeople requested a man “known of all men for his holiness and tenderness and wisdom in the winning of souls” to visit the criminal. Entering the cell, he sat down beside the prisoner, who knew him well by reputation, and simply recounted the story of the cross. When he had finished it, he turned, laid his hands on the criminal’s shoulders, and said to him with deep emotion, “Wasn’t it a great sacrifice for the Son of God to lay down his life for guilty sinners like me and you?” That’s what broke his hardened heart. On later visits, he would often say, “To think such a holy man, as I knew him to be, putting himself on a level with me, and saying, ‘Sinners like me and you!’” — The Miracles of Our Savior, pp. 119-120

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 31-33

Memorize: John 18:36 [/button