Day 17

Day Seventeen
Matthew 4:12-17Now when Jesus heard that John had been put in prison, He departed to Galilee. And leaving Nazareth He came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the regions of Zebulun and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying; “ the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles: The people who sat in darkness saw a great light, and those who sat in the region and shadow of death Light has dawned”. Jesus began to preach and say; "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."
Having now gone from His wilderness experience, overcoming the temptations of the enemy Jesus now begins the real purpose of His ministry; to bring salvation to all mankind! How easily we forget the basic premise of the purpose of Christ, we summarize, we evaluate, and we extenuate everything He said and did. Yet all too often in an effort to make human sense of Godly things we minimize the true purpose of Jesus dissention to earth and ultimate crucifixion. What was it Jesus began to preach, not I'm here look at me, or look out I'm coming to condemn, no He begins His message with an amazingly powerful yet all too forgotten word, repent; what does it mean this word repent? Repent can be defined best as: "To be sorry for", to "turn from", or my favorite "to change one's mind". The question would be, "have we as children of the King, witnesses on this earth changed our minds regarding sin?" Sometimes I think we take the whole idea of grace and mercy to a place far more liberal than it was intended to be. Yes we serve a God of grace and mercy, but that is not how Jesus began His ministry, nor is it the message of the old covenant, the Ten Commandments. Remember these words, "Thou shalt not" the Lord our God did not say "please don't" or "if you feel like it", no He said don't do it. Now don't get me wrong I'm not suggesting that we should live under the law that would be contrary to the message of Christ. However I am suggesting that in many cases we have become far too familiar with grace and mercy, while leaving repentance behind. Yet the message of Jesus is repent, change your mind, turn away from old habits and become a new creature in Christ not subject to the whims and desires of our mortal bodies, and when you fail He will forgive you. Recently the Lord gave me a picture of what the consequence of sin looks like maybe this will help someone; imagine that it is constantly raining all around you (rain representing temptations), yet you are covered by a rather large umbrella (which represents Christ). When you sin, or miss the mark the umbrella disappears until you repent, and upon repentance the umbrella once again shelters you from the rain. However your still wet, this is the consequence of sin. The question is how wet do you want to be, how long will you stay out of His covering? Let us also not forget excessive wetness always leads to rot , mold, mildew, and more, not very appealing is it.
Daily Prayer: Father may we people who turn away from sinful behavior, people who change our lifestyles to be more like you, thank you for your grace and mercy and may we honor your gift with repentant hearts. Amen.
"Changed minds are always stronger than broken backs"
Gene Burroughs Servant