Judges 10:10 (NRSVue) - So the Israelites cried to the Lord, saying, “We have sinned against you, because we have abandoned our God and have served the Baals.”
These were the words of the people as the Ammonites oppressed them.
In time, God used a man named Jephthah to deliver them.
Once delivered, Jephthah served as their judge for six years.
But their deliverance began with the confession of contrite hearts.
Luke tells us the story of John the Baptist.
When John the Baptist was born, he was not named after his father Zechariah as was the custom.
Before his birth, the angel Gabriel spoke to Zechariah,
He foretold the child’s birth, but Zechariah did not believe him.
As a result, Zechariah was silenced for his disbelief.
When the time came for John to be named, Zechariah still could not speak.
To the amazement of all, he wrote “His name is John.”
Zechariah was then filled with the Holy Spirit.
This time, to even greater amazement, he spoke.
Luke 1:76-77 (NRSVue) - And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High, for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give his people knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins.
While not completely identical, our journeys as Christians are akin to these events.
We start out rebellious.
We do things our way rather than God’s way.
We even believe that things and people are more important than God.
Then, one day, we realize the error of our ways.
We approach God with contrite hearts and confess our sins to Him.
In the process, we even admit them to ourselves.
Then, the timeless and loving God forgives us.
He listens to our sincere confession.
We place our faith in the redemptive Christ.
As a result, we return to favor in God’s sight.
We then continue the work begun by John the Baptist.
We share the Good News so that others may learn of salvation and true forgiveness.
Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
Look for me at otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com on Friday, December 22, 2023.
I will be back here on Friday, January 5, 2024
