Daily Encounter: A Week-day Devotional by a staff of ACTS International.

Friday, April 1, 2016

"For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."¹

"Leslie Weatherhead, in his book, Key Next Door, told about a benevolent ruler named Goho who, centuries ago, lived on the island of Taiwan. One ritual he desperately wanted stopped was the ancient custom of offering humans for sacrifices. He wanted them to substitute an ox or a pig for their annual offering.

For many years he succeeded. However, after one extremely poor harvest the tribal leaders complained that the animal sacrifices weren't working and they needed a human sacrifice to appease the gods whom they believed to be angry at them.

Unfortunately, Goho failed to convince his tribe of the error of their way and finally gave in to them. He said. "Go into the forest tomorrow morning. There you will find a victim tied to a tree. He will be wearing a red robe of sacrifice and a red cloth over his face and head. Strike! For this is your next victim."

The following morning the men went to the forest and found the victim just as Goho said. In a crazed frenzy they rushed in and decapitated him. When they uncovered his head they realized what they had done. They had killed Goho, their leader!

According to the story, Taiwan has never again had a human sacrifice. Goho accomplished through his death what his teaching failed to do.²

And on this day some 2000 years ago Jesus's death on the cross at Calvary accomplished what all of man's own efforts could never do. He died to pay the penalty for your sins and mine so we could be fully forgiven and given the gift of eternal life. If you have never accepted God's full and free pardon, you can do that right now by praying the following prayer:

"Dear God, I confess that I am a sinner and am sorry for all the wrongs that I have done. I believe that Your Son, Jesus Christ, died on the cross for my sins. Please forgive me. I invite You, Jesus, to come into my heart and life as my Lord and Savior. I commit and trust my life and way to You. Please give me the desire to be what You want me to be and to do what You want me to do. Thank You for dying for my sins, for Your free pardon, for Your gift of eternal life, and for hearing and answering my prayer. Gratefully in Jesus's name, amen."

If you prayed this prayer, please let us know by clicking on www.actsweb.org/decision.php and we will send you the web address for a free PDF copy of "How to Grow" to help you in your Christian life, plus the web site for additional helpful articlesâ€"all without charge.

For further help be sure to read, "How to Be Sure You're a Real Christian" at: http://tinyurl.com/8glq9

1. Romans 5:7-8 (NKJV).
2. From the "Supreme Sacrifice" at http://tinyurl.com/38h6qn

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