Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Thought of the Day !!

...the LORD says, "Turn to me now, while there is time.  Give me your hearts.  Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.  Don't tear your clothing in your grief, but tear your hearts instead."  Return to the LORD your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.  He is eager to relent and not punish.
                                                            Joel 2:12-13 (NLT)

As I read this passage this morning I felt led to break it into two closely connected thoughts.  The first thought is that we need to realize that the time is now...not tomorrow or next week...but NOW to connect with, reconnect with, or get closer to God.  We don't know when the end of this world will come.  We don't know when our days on this earth will be over.  And if we don't come to Jesus in a repentant attitude now, we just might lose our chance.

How many of us are putting off changing the part of our lives that don't align themselves with the will of God?  How many of us have decided that God would be okay with this or that sin or area of my life that is sinful.  How many of us believe we can't change to satisfy God or don't want to because we don't have the faith to believe our lives will even be better if we do?

The prophet Joel has the same message for us today that he did in his own day.  Turn to God now while there is still time.  Change your attitudes and behavior, not out of simple obedience to some moral law but because your hearts are given fully to God.

The second thought that came to me this morning was that when we make that decision to turn to God (or back to God or more fully to God), He is so full of compassion that it doesn't matter how far we've been from Him.  He will still wrap His arms around us and love us and protect us.  He has no desire for us to be lost or struggling spiritually.  He has no desire for any of His children to wind up in Hell.  His greatest desire is that we all live for Him and for each other in harmony.  And I believe that is what Heaven will be like, which is what we're being trained for right now.

In the love of Christ,
greg

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