Repent?!

Dear Fellow Children of God,

 

I made a mistake when I wrote last week’s devotion.  I always like to base these devotions on Scripture so that it is God speaking through these devotions, more than myself.  When writing last week about anticipation and waiting for the Lord I wanted to include verses 5 and 6 of Psalm 130, which speak eloquently of waiting for God with anticipation.

 

Just for the record, Psalm 130:5-6 says, “5 I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. 6 My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning.”

 

Truthfully, this is only one of many mistakes I make on a regular basis.  Sometimes these mistakes are simply a matter of forgetfulness.  But, sometimes our mistakes are not just something we wish we did better.  Sometimes our mistakes hurt others.  I can think of a number of such mistakes in just the last week.

 

Unfortunately, our struggle as children of God is much deeper than just making mistakes.  We have a basic struggle with evil going on inside us at all times.  If you read Romans 8, or Galatians 5:16-26, you can find a description of the struggle inside us between the Spirit and the flesh.  With His Spirit God calls us to live in obedience, in love, in faith, goodness, peace, and joy.  God calls us to be the people He created us to be.

 

But, Scripture also tells us that God’s righteous plan for our lives is opposed inside us by the will and deeds and desires of our flesh.  This force of evil calls us to attitudes and deeds of “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.”  (Galatians 5:19-21) You may see some behaviors in this list from Scripture you don’t think apply to you.  But, have you ever been hateful?  Have you been involved in discord, or encouraging division among people?  Have you ever been jealous, or thrown a fit of anger?  Has your personal ambition led you to selfish actions?  We could go on with these uncomfortable questions.  But you see there is a battle going on inside each one of us.  There are forces of evil fighting the Spirit of God in each of our lives.  Unfortunately, there are occasions for each of us in which evil wins and God’s will for our lives is not accomplished!

 

So, let’s think again about waiting in anticipation for the coming of Jesus, not only with His Christmas coming, but with His daily coming, and His final coming.  How do we “wait for the Lord?”  How do we prepare for Him in our lives? This coming Sunday many churches will be reading God’s answer to that question as they hear about John the Baptist.  John’s answer to our question, “How do we prepare for the Lord’s coming?” is found in Matthew 3:2.  "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

 

Repentance is not just feeling badly about something we did that hurt another or that hurt us.  Repentance is intentionally turning from the self-serving deeds of the flesh toward God, and toward his will, His power, and His grace.

 

Repentance is not easy.  This means admitting there is something in my life that opposes God’s will and should not be there.  We don’t like admitting our problems, our weaknesses, and failures.  But, our sin is real!  Repentance means actually doing something to turn from these acts of evil, turning toward God and His will.  Or, as one of the devotions I recently read bluntly asked me, ‘What sin in your life will you work to eliminate?”

 

Thankfully, even though this repentance takes life-long effort on our part, we are not alone.  God melts our hearts with His love when He cleanses us through the sacrifice of Jesus.  God does send his Holy Spirit by His Word and through His Sacraments to live in us and to fight the desires of our sinful flesh.  God is with us in the battle.

 

So, this Advent and Christmas season, as we prepare for the coming of God in our lives with eager anticipation, let’s remember God’s plan for that preparation.  "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

 

A Child of God, Having LOTS to Change in My Life,

Pastor Jonathan

 

P.S.  Last Sunday after worship we got to take a picture of our family to share with family and friends.  Here is that picture, if you want to look . . . https://photos.google.com/photo/AF1QipMSvxSOztvNbEZwjFF0fpxWlEtRgVJaC-ZAkdb7

 

 

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ABOUT ‘THOUGHTS FROM THE PASTOR’ -   I am sending these e-mail messages, hopefully weekly, to all St. John members and friends whose e-mails I have.  (I am regularly adding new names of friends and members – in case you are just receiving this e-mail for the first time.)  However, if you don’t want to receive this e-mail, please let me know, and I’ll gladly leave your name off my list for this message.

 

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