July 16 – Dissolve My Heart in Thankfulness

Hope for Today: A Daily Devotion from Reasons for Hope*Jesus

 | Hope for Today Archive | Sign Up for Our Resources | 

“And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all peoples to Myself.” John 12:32

Jesus spoke this of His death; and it is the remembrance of His cruel death, of what He suffered, said, and finished, when He hung naked and wounded upon the cross, that relieves an afflicted conscience and effectually engages the sinner’s heart to Himself.

• The sharpest convictions, if not relieved by this sight, will never teach the heart to love.
• The strongest resolutions, unless made with this bleeding object in view, will melt away like snow.

But a crucified Savior is a powerful loadstone indeed; multitudes have been drawn by it from sin to holiness, from Satan to God, from earth to Heaven. My soul, whenever you feel at a distance from God, turn to the cross, look to Jesus, and fix your eye on Him until drawn close to Him. Looking, we almost insensibly move toward Him; and when we get near Him, we enjoy pardon, peace, and fellowship with God. O to experience daily the attracting power of the cross of Jesus!

Was it for crimes that I have done
He groaned upon the tree?
Amazing pity, grace unknown!
And love beyond degree!

Well might I hide my blushing face,
While His dear cross appears;
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness,
And melt my eyes to tears.

But drops of grief can never repay
The debt of love I owe;
Lord, I would give myself away.
‘Tis all that I can do.

Devotion by Karl Heinrich von Bogatzky (1690—1774)