Pastor’s Ponderings – 12-2-10

 Repenting is moving from the shadows into the daylight.

3:1 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming,

3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

3:3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said, “The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.'”

John the Baptist has a message for us throughout the ages.  No matter when we hear this message it is an appropriate message to hear.  So, why don’t we proclaim it all year-long instead of during Advent?  Well we do in so many different ways, Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near, is a message carried in so many scriptures.  Repentance is the key to a life lived in a Christian walk.  Repentance is what actually helps us to grow spiritually into the people God calls us to be.  If we are not repentant for our sins we will never grow into the mature Christian we should be.  Not repenting from sin does not keep God from loving us but it does keep us from being able to focus on our Christian walk and it makes it harder to live a life of Christian love for your God and your neighbor.

Just so you will know that John the Baptist and Jesus Christ were preaching the same message here is a scripture from Luke 13:

Luk 13:2  He asked them, “Do you think that these Galileans were more sinful than all the other Galileans because they suffered like this?       Luk 13:3  Absolutely not, I tell you! But if you don’t repent, then you, too, will all die.
 Luk 13:4  What about those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them? Do you think they were worse offenders     than all the other people living in Jerusalem?                                                                                                                                                                                                Luk 13:5  Absolutely not, I tell you! But if you don’t repent, then you, too, will all die.”  

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