I greet you in Jesus’ precious name! It is Monday morning, the 9th of June, 2025, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Gospel of Luke 8:2:

“Mary called Magdalene, out of whom had come seven demons,…”

Then we go on a bit further to Luke 19:8:

“Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” 

Wow! Now that is genuine repentance, that is genuine appreciation for what God has done for a person who is a sinner. Mary Magdalene, Mary of Magdala - I have been to Magdala, it is a little village on the shores of Lake Galilee in Israel - now Mary has been delivered from seven demons and yet, once forgiven, and healed and delivered, she became one of Jesus’ most faithful followers. I always say, if you get to Heaven before me, have a look and see who the most beautiful woman is in Heaven. I know many of us will say Mary, the mother of Jesus, but I beg to differ. I believe it will be Mary Magdalene, and I believe (I am getting emotional) she will be sitting at the feet of the Messiah, because she was forgiven much. Jesus didn’t patch her up; He made her into a brand-new, beautiful handmaiden. You know, after that time, she never left the Lord once. She was the first one down at the tomb in the morning after the Lord had been crucified and had been put in Joseph of Arimathea’s tomb. She was the first one, not Peter, not the disciples, it was the woman who had been forgiven much, and that’s what I love about her. 

Jim Elliot, a missionary who went to the Amazon said, “It is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” What is that? It is your life. John Newton, forgiven much, a slave ship captain - can you think of anything worse? He wrote probably the most famous hymn of all time:

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound 
In a believer’s ear,
I once was lost, but now am found;
I was blind, but now I see.

What about Peter, the big fisherman? He said, “Lord, I will die for you,” and yet when the test came before the cock crowed, he denied his beloved Saviour three times, but God forgave him, restored him and eventually he was crucified, by his own request, upside-down, for the love of Christ. Today, love the One who has forgiven you much.

Jesus bless you and goodbye.