Return To The Lord With All Your Heart

There are people whose hearts are hardened by their experiences and starting to ignore God and denying His utmost participation in our daily lives. Some are due to sorrows, difficulties, and disabilities but others are due to their self-confessed successes in our lives. We tend to forget God when we are reaping fruits of our labour like bearing education, a well-paid job, a great career and promotion, a good business, and many more. Because we enjoy them most, we get rid the joy God has given and shared to us from the time we were borne.

In His ultimate plan for us to reconcile with Him, He called everyone to return to Him with true repentance. He allowed His own Son, Jesus, to die for our sins and be restored with Him in the same way Jesus has risen and ascended to heaven to join Him. But He wants with all of our heart and not of compulsion. Even before the time of Jesus ministry here in earth, God wants His people to return to Him as He is merciful, compassionate, slow to anger, and most of all His loyal love to all of us. He confirms this in Joel 2:12-13, 12 "Yet even now," the Lord says, "return to me with all your heart - with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, not just your garments!" 13 Return to the Lord your God, for he is merciful and compassionate, slow to anger and boundless in loyal love - often relenting from calamitous punishment.

God, in the same way when Jesus arrives on earth to save the sinners, shows His abundant love to us (read John 3:16). Jesus is a reflection of God's mercy and compassion that He allowed Himself to submit selflessly to the will of God to save the humanity once and for all. Jesus teachings and words are all scattered like a seed in the field to grow. But the seed is now in the soil of our hearts to keep, to nurture, to grow, and to bear fruits. And no matter what external influences of the world to steal, kill and destroy it; we will remain steadfast and always returning to Him from this life and to the next life to come.
 

God bless everyone.

Examine Our Ways and Return to God

“Why should any living person complain when punished for his sins? נ(Nun) Let us carefully examine our ways, and let us return to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven” - Lamentations 3:39-42.

When staring in a beautifully painted wall, we may get amazed to its outstanding beauty at the first look. But staring to it for some time, we start looking for the defects, a hole, paint patches, dirt, etc. The tendency of human mind is to always try to find out of what makes a perfect imperfect.

It seems that there is no difference in our relationship with our God, we tend to complain on His alleged imperfections to us especially when we feel punished by our committed sin. We assume that God is unfair as if it is Him who caused these pains to us. We are acknowledging our sin against Him, thus we repent, but we do not want to be punished. This is not a true repentance then, it is just admittance.

Though God accepted us wholeheartedly, we still have to bear the consequences of all our actions while still in earth - from past, present and future. Jesus forgives our sin when we confess before him and He breaks the eternal death as a reward for true repentance, however, it is not guarantee that you will have a good life based to what you like or based to human standard. But if we continue to our walk WITH Him, we are guaranteed of contented life through the guidance of His Spirit (Gal 5:22-23).

I encourage everyone to always examine our ways and return to God where we have to ask for His wisdom and guidance. We submit our hearts and long for God's help instead, rather than complaining of our situation that is not according to what we expect. Because changes in our sinful ways is impossible without God's lending hands. He is waiting for you to lift your hands to Him and He is very willing to reach you and renew your heart. For "... if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away - look, what is new has come!” - 2 Corinthians 5:17. 

God bless everyone!