Thought For Today - August 12 - What Did Jesus Say? - Repent !

Thought For Today - August 11
 What did Jesus say? - Repent!
By: Robert A. Searles

    Jesus said: Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 4:17.

Up until the time that Jesus came upon the scene and presented himself to John the Baptist to be baptized by him as a token of his identification with the human race, the worship of God was ceremonial, for the most part. People lived pretty much as they pleased. For the most part people were concerned only for their own needs and pleasure, religious, strict keepers of the law out of fear, but having no heart for it. They feared an angry wrathful God, as they thought of him, whom they thought was more eager to pour out his wrath and punishment, than to love , show mercy and forgive. An eye for an eye and tooth for tooth mentality prevailed. People were lying, cheating and killing one another in business as well as in religious matters.

    Jesus came with an all new philosophy. Jesus was the manifestation of God the Father in human flesh. He came to reveal to the world the true nature of God. God is love, God is kind, God is merciful, God is more willing to forgive sins than to pour out his wrath and punishment if people will only confess their sins and ask for forgiveness.

    To repent means to come to a place in our sojourn through life when we stop and examine ourselves, examine our thinking and attitudes, look into the depth of our own heart and root out all bitterness, envy, strife, covetousness, and anything that does not reflect the image and glory of God.

Jesus taught us to repent: to stop and take a good look at ourselves and if we are going in this direction to turn completely around - repent - and go in the direction of God; to follow his teaching about God and his love and mercy, and to look forward to the coming kingdom of God.

Telehelp Publications Christian Literature Ministry