Friday, June 17, 2011

Musings in Matthew (Matthew 3 & 4)

I don't know if I ever really noticed or why this stood out to me this time around, but did you notice that John the Baptist's and Jesus' message was the exact same? Both went about preaching "repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand".

If that was the message to prepare people for Jesus' coming, AND it was the message that Jesus also preached, is it not STILL the message we should proclaim as we prepare for His Second Coming?

I realize that there are a lot of other things people need to know... after all, there are hurting people with lives full of messes whether it's a rocky marriage, out of control finances, raising children, etc. But I would like to submit that if we first don't lead someone to a relationship with Jesus, what makes us think we can help with the marriage, finances, or family?

We do run the risk of sounding condemning, unless we begin to be transparent in telling people about our personal experience in repentance and beginning a relationship with Christ. See, I think it meant something for John the Baptist who gave up a "normal" life in order to preach this message that made the message sincere. And no one can question Jesus' sincerity, after all He died and rose again to prove His love for us was sincere. I guess I have to ask myself, and we have to ask ourselves... are we sincere? What have we given up to follow Christ? Is our love for those Jesus died for sincere? If not, what does it sound like when we preach "repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand"? I'll leave that for you to answer...

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