I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Wednesday morning, the 24th of July, 2024, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today.

We start in the Gospel of 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."

Then we go to the Gospel of Matthew 7:20, Jesus says:

"Therefore by their fruits you will know them." 

Zacchaeus was a scoundrel. He was a thief. He was like the mafia; he and his friends were stealing money from their own people. You couldn't get anybody worse than that. But what happened? Salvation came to his house.

"Today salvation has come to this house,…"
Luke 19:9

We need to bear fruits worthy of repentance. What does that mean? Well mother, if your husband has had an affair with another woman and he comes back and asks forgiveness of you and says he made a terrible mistake, you must forgive him, but that man must bear fruit worthy of repentance. He must never be seen with any other woman, he must never ever be seen to text another woman, to phone - no! There must be fruits. He must repent completely. 

That man who has become a Christian but was a thief, yes, he stole from his partner, he stole from the company, but now he has given his life to the Lord, there must be restitution. Now, what does "restitution" mean? According to the Oxford Dictionary, it means "The restoration of something lost or stolen, back to its proper owner." That's what it means. When He had healed or forgiven somebody, Jesus often said, "Go and sin no more, your sins are forgiven." In other words, "Go and bear fruits worthy of repentance."

Remember Charles Colson? He was called "the hatchet man." He was President Nixon's righthand man. He went to jail in the place of Richard Nixon. He was such an otherwise kind of a person, Colson. They said he would walk over his own mother's grave to get what he wanted. But what happened? - 180 degree turn around in prison. He became a born-again Christian. He started the Prison Fellowship. For the rest of his life, he was one of God's greatest ambassadors. There has got to be a change. Yes, we must forgive; of course, we must, but there also must be a complete turn-around. 

Jesus bless you and have a wonderful day,
Goodbye.