January 29

"When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchæus, make haste, and come down."—Luke 19:5.

THE call of Christ is very personal. Zacchæus! He says, addressing the soul by name. It is how He comes to me in the hour of my conversion, giving to the general warnings and precepts and promises of His Word an individual meaning, and a message which singles me out from the crowd.

The call of Christ is very illuminative. Long ago in Jericho, it made two things clear to the publican—the knowledge and majesty of the Saviour, and the sore and crying need of his own heart. Thus He convinces me of my sin and misery. Thus He enlightens my mind regarding Himself.

The call of Christ is very loving. I must abide at thy house, He said. It is the "must" of tenderest affection; it is the imperative of immeasurable grace. And the same "must" governs Him still in high heaven. Oh marvel of mercy, He cannot bear that I should perish!

The call of Christ is very urgent. Make haste, He commanded. To-day—that was His royal word. So it always is. "There is nothing to be feared but our own sin and sloth," Cromwell wrote to his friends in the Civil War. In my salvation is there anything to be feared but my sin and sloth?

And the call of Christ is very transforming. It made a new man of this grasping and greedy tax-gatherer. It will make a new man of me, if only I let Him have His blessed and irresistible way with my soul. The fruit of His Spirit is love and joy and peace.

Shall I not say Yes when Jesus calls?