There is a lot of noise mulling around us during this pandemic -so much noise. there are some calling for repentance, still others calling that hateful, Love being the word for these days.

i struggle to understand the contrast.

Are not we guilty of so so many wrongs?  wrongs done to our bodies, wrongs done to our world, wrongs done to each other?

Yes, why yes we are. quite guilty.

Does God love us?

Yes, why yes He does. quite a lot in fact.

Why is it that while we know how much in this world is not as it ought to be,  we are so easily offended by the proposal of repentance?

The real and actual truth is we can’t possibly know why this pandemic has come at this particular time in history. nor the tornadoes, the floods, the snow storms.

But we can allow the pandemic along with all the rest to make known to us what it can reveal.

And if we are willing to look head on, into what we are being invited to see-we can be changed.  relationships can be healed.  the earth can be healed. our hearts can be healed.

seeing…

the idols we’ve built up that are now crumbling can turn our hearts back towards the One who alone satisfies.

the places of safety we’ve depended on that are now whisps in the wind can turn our trust back to the One who is solid

the self-sustaining provisions we’ve prided ourselves with that have been ripped out of our hands can turn our identities back to the One who loves to be known through how He provides.

Our worlds of sports, entertainment, and education have been completely upended. 

Our blue collar workers, doctors, nurses, grocery store stockers, farmers, pharmacists-these are our new heroes….

….that is until we run out of toilet paperwe are a fickle people after all.

Our futures are completely uncertain, and we are faced with having no control.

Jesus entered Jerusalem to the waving of palm branches.  The shouts turned to crucify and all seemed lost. He exited Jerusalem in a resurrected body, turning the entire world upside down.

His message; “repent, for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.” -It means so much more than one would think.

we are people who are prone to wander, who worship ourselves-again and again and again. But we can also be people who turn back, who repent, who remember to live in the strong and unshakable kingdom of God.

When times are good, and when times are horrible, this is the Spriit’s whisper to us all;

This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it….” The amplified says it this way; “In returning [to Me] and resting you will be saved….” echoing this call, Jesus invites: Come unto Me, and I will give you the rest you seek.

The invitation to repent: to turn back: to re-turn: to the Only One who can satisfy all we hunger for-it is the most loving invitation we will ever receive.  We must release our grip on temporary things-so our hands can be filled with what cannot be taken.

may we all embrace the repentance being personally called forth from us and by it receive the very Life Jesus promises is available in abundance.  may the path of repentance not turn us away, but draw us closer and closer to the One who is worthy.

But whatever former things were gains to me [as I thought then], these things [once regarded as advancements in merit] I have come to consider as loss [absolutely worthless] for the sake of Christ [and the purpose which He has given my life]. But more than that, I count everything as loss compared to the priceless privilege and supreme advantage of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord [and of growing more deeply and thoroughly acquainted with Him—a joy unequaled].


Isaiah 30, Matthew 11, Philippians 3