Berean Journeymen

It was so encouraging to read in “the Berean Banter” newsletter about our pastor spending such precious time with our Lord, and it was even more encouraging to hear him convey the message he felt God lay upon his heart…that we all must repent and reform our ways. Fore we must and it is an encouraging message.

Why would this call to repent and reform be encouraging? Because we live in a world where religious leaders are choosing to say what itching ears want to hear. We live in a country where more and more pastors are bowing to the will of their culture and the will of their patrons and not to the will of God. We live in a country and maybe even a city where more and more shepherds are building their foundation on shifting sand and not the solid rock. Did Jesus not denounce unrepentant cities? Is a pastor’s urgency concerning repentance not good and right and loving? If we choose to reject this call, we expose ourselves to the lies of false teaching and ignore truth.

Why would this call to repent and reform be encouraging? Because forgiveness and right relationship with God is the most loving thing He can offer us and he is reminding us once again of that offer. Who can deny the deeply rooted truth of humanity’s desperate need to repent and reform? Was this not a recurring proclamation by the prophets to God’s people throughout the ages? Is it not an offer of mercy from a holy and perfect Creator? Are we not called to produce fruit in keeping with repentance? If we do not embrace this call as a people in this moment of time and as his children each and every day, we completely misunderstand who God is and who we are.

Why would this call to repent and reform be encouraging? Because God’s Word reveals our obedience to such a call will prove both beneficial to us and glorifying to God. How many stories must God tell before we gain ears to hear? How many times must history repeat before our eyes are opened and our hearts are softened? Has God not proven to be faithful time and time again to those who were called by his name when they humbled themselves and repented and sought his face and turned from their wicked ways?

So we either believe and respond or we do not…and we must know that our hearts and lives, not our lips, will bear witness to what our true beliefs are and possibly the very state of our souls. This call is not the trivial matter we so often make of it.

Thus says the Lord, “Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and make ye a new heart and a new spirit.”