A Call to Repentance

The Lord Jesus Christ said, "I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance" (Luke 5:31). He was calling unbelievers to turn from their sinful lives toward a life of obedience to God. That is still His desire today. Repentance, which follows confession of sin, is a commitment to change directions and leave wrongdoing behind. This change of heart is a necessary step in the decision to follow Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The Holy Spirit transforms the inner person so that the child of God has a new attitude about his purpose. And when attitude is different, conduct will be too.

It isn't long before the new believer begins to see that some of his former choices no longer fit his new life. He becomes sensitive to habits and attitudes that displease God. And when he discovers one in his life, he confesses and repents so the wrong does not hinder his relationship with God. The change takes place gradually ... we need to all realize that God loves us just as we are, but He loves us too much to let us stay that way.

Some unbelievers refuse to receive Jesus as Savior because of an incorrect assumption: they think that all wrong behavior must be fixed before one can come to Christ and they realize, that left on their own, in their own strength, they cannot live a righteous life. God knows that new believers haven't the strength to make necessary changes so when He accepts us just as we are, He empowers us with the Holy Spirit and gives us the strength to make any necessary changes. For many unbelievers, making changes seems like an insurmountable obstacle to salvation so those of us who know the truth about repentance must take all available means to share the truth of the gospel with lost souls. They need to know that while changes invariably need to be made, God will give them the power through the Holy Spirit to make these changes. People don't clean up their lives before entering church ... they come to church "dirty"! It is God who does the cleaning of the heart, soul, mind, strength and spirit when someone repents. It is God who cleans us and takes us into a right relationship with the Father. Let us never forget that it is God who starts the work and He will bring it to pass, He will make us right with Himself. All we have to do is repent and make ourselves available to Him so He can make the necessary changes.

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Today's air is much improved over yesterday's air. The smoke seems pretty well cleared out this morning. Praise God! Thank you, Lord for the breath of fresh air. Hogback mountain is much, much easier to see. Nice.

I have no solid plans for today. I'm considering going down to the church this evening (5:00-8:00) and work on the construction of the coffee house. I may be wrong and I sincerely hope I am but I think this coffee house is a bad idea. I just can't see a lot of people driving down to our church to have a cup of coffee. Even it it is gourmet coffee. Even if it is free. We've taken the old, old sanctuary and are in the process of remodeling it to house the coffee shop. I just can't see people having urges to go drive somewhere for a cup of coffee. Granted they will get their favorite flavored coffees but, like I said, I just can't see people suddenly saying "I think I'll drive down to that church across town and get a cup of coffee." It's a good idea. I just can't see it flying here in this town. I hope it does but even if it does, who's going to support it. The coffee has to be free or we get all locked up with governmental rules and regulations. Now that might be a draw, the fact that they won't have to pay for their coffee. Even so... I guess I'm a pessimist when it comes to things like this. I hope it works, it would be a great way to make our church more visible and to fulfill the community goals we've set, it is a "community" church after all. The more people become aware of us, the more people may decide to visit some Sunday during services.

Speaking of services, our Sunday worship time will be changing to 10:00 instead of 10:30 in two weeks. Children's ministry wanted to try to do something with their ministry for the kids. A recent survey showed that an earlier time works better. We'll see. We're willing to give it a try. I don't fully understand why they are making this change. I just know that it's supposed to be a better time slot. That will require me getting up earlier... well, no it won't either. I get up in plenty of time to make it to church. I'll just have less time for my morning quiet time on Sundays. But it really shouldn't interfere with my schedule all that much. I get up at 7:30 on Sunday mornings already and I can't see getting up any earlier. I'll just have 30 minutes less to goof around before leaving. I have plenty of extra spare time factored into my schedule already.

I have moved my Proverbs reading to my morning devotional because I think it will work better there. I don't want to complicate my bedtime devotionals any more than they already are. I will have more time in the mornings. And this will only be for the month of July anyway. It really packs my mornings but it's better than trying to cram it in at night. I already have three devotionals I use at bedtime as it is. And as quickly as I get sleepy in the evenings I just think it's best not to complicate things at that hour.

I spent a couple hours reading my New Living Bible translation yesterday afternoon. I really, really like it. It's extremely readable and conveys the message plainly through the Scriptures. When I first became a Christian (or actually immediately before) I decided that I needed to read the New Testament from front to back and I chose the earlier version of the Living Bible at that time. I can remember being amazed how readable that translation was. It gave a great overview. It painted a vibrant picture of the gospel and what it means for each of us. So I think I will reread the NT in the New Living translation in the same time slot I have for the reading of Proverbs now. I may see if I can squeeze in an afternoon devotional every afternoon before the evening news comes on for this purpose. The only problem I have is that the type is soooooooo small in this copy. I didn't want to put out a lot of money for another translation (I have so many) so I bought a cheap paperback version and it is written in 4 point type which is very small type and that makes it hard to read. I felt the strain on my eyeballs from what I read yesterday. But I think my eyes will adjust. Or I hope they will anyway. It's worth a little discomfort to read the Bible in a fresh, new way.

I got a little confused this morning and read two chapters in Proverbs instead of just one. So I will double read chapter 15 again tomorrow. Which is really okay because I've found that when I reread something it helps to plant it a little deeper into my boggy brain! I'm really enjoying the reading of the Psalms I do first thing every morning. It sets my day off on the right foot. Our "herd" of turkeys visited us this morning while I was having my quiet time out on the deck. We hadn't seen them for months. They don't call a lot of attention to themselves and unless you're out there really paying attention they can slip right on by you. If I hadn't looked up at the moment I did, I would have missed them entirely.

Pretty is still with us this morning and her labored breathing continues. Poor thing. I wish I could afford to have her put down and get it over with but we just don't have the money to do that right now. It's one of the reasons I hate being poor. I have to just pray that she's not in any pain. I don't think she is but then I'm not so sure I'd know if she were in pain. I know her breathing must be difficult for her but otherwise she seems okay. She's got a terrific appetite, eats close to two cans a day. But I have decided that if she has to die, she will not die hungry.

Yesterday morning one of the Psalms I read was Psalm 42: "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God," and pastor used that Psalm in his sermon yesterday. It never ceases to amaze me how often Scripture is reinforced like that. I will read it and then it will be brought to my attention in some other way within a relatively short time. This is one of my favorite Psalms. I had that happen with Jer. 29:11 (For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future) reinforced four different ways in a single day this past spring. So far that's my record. It's one of my favorite verses.

In my Andrew Murray devotional this morning I read: "It is a privilege to approach the throne of grace and an even greater privilege when we see the face of God and of the Lamb and walk in their light each day. When the name of Christ is engraved upon our hearts and our foreheads, we are changed to His image, from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord."

And Oswald Chambers wrote: "... when the person died who represented for me all that God was, did I give up on everything in life? Did I become ill or disheartened? Or did I do as Isaiah did and see the Lord?" And one sentence really caught my attention: "Over and over again God has to remove our friends to put Himself in their place ..." Do you suppose He means that He must always be first in our lives? I suppose that! We can't allow any thing or any one to take God's preeminent place in our lives. Not even our best friend or our spouse (who should be our best friend). God comes first. He is our goal and we risk injury if He is relegated to a lesser position in our lives even for a short amount of time. God must always come first. He and He alone deserves our commitment to love as Christ loves. He and He alone sets us free to be the children of God and the people of His gospel, His good news. And what good news it is! When the Lord is in His proper place in our lives, we urgently promote this "good news" to others the way that God has determined for things to work.

Yesterday one of my devotionals said that God doesn't need us to spread the gospel but He blesses us by allowing us to take part in spreading its wonderful message to the non-believing world around us. What a blessing! And isn't it incredible the way the same verses and passages keep repeating themselves in our lives. That's one way to know that the Holy Spirit is active in our lives, teaching us biblical truths. He brings Scripture up over and over again in many different ways. Those are times we need to pause and make sure we are hearing what the Holy Spirit is saying. He is bringing Scripture to life for us. The Bible does after all say that it's alive. Heb 4:12 reads: "For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

What an amazing God we have! He leads us through this life and guides us into intimacy with Himself. He is our God; the only God. The One who was and is and is to come. The holy one. And He no longer calls us sinners because by the grace of God and through our faith we have been totally forgiven and have been reconciled to God as one of His very own children. We are saints, not sinners. We were sinners before when we were steeped in error and sin, but now that we have been set right with God, we have become His saints. Praise be to our God and Father... the holy One of Israel! That He saw fit to include me, sobers up my thinking. That He saw fit to call me to His mercy and grace through the faith that He gives, utterly abases me, bringing me down into reverence for Him and Him alone. He is holy God. He is like no other. He is God Almighty, Sovereign of heaven and earth. And He is mine. Yours too if you let Him.