How God Cleans Up What You Messed Up
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
How wonderful it was to see so many of you on Sunday! I am praying even more of you will come out this Sunday for "R
ep Your Team" Sunday with your favorite team's paraphernalia. I imagine there are more than a few Aggies, Rams, and others who will be in their game day finest. I will definitely be sporting my Maroon Tiger gear.
We come together to celebrate because of what God has done for us.
And, what has God done for us most of all? God, through Jesus the Christ, pained the price for the unremovable stain of sin.
As we like to sing, Jesus paid it all.
The next verse in the song is "All to Him I owe."
How do we repay God for all that He has done for us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit?
Bit by bit, we give more and more of our lives over to Him, our messed up lives.
And, what will God do? God will clean up our messed up lives, bit by bit, as we give more over to Him.
2 Chronicles 7:14 tells us,
"If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, pray, seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
I want to put emphasis on the turning from wicked ways.
We can pray. That is good.
We can seek God. That is good too.
But, when we turn from our wicked ways, ways that are displeasing to God, that is what is best.
It is called repentance. We stop simply asking for forgiveness of sin, especially the same old sin, and begin to seek a new and better way.
When we do that, God can clean up the messiness in our lives.
Without doing that, God will watch and see but likely not respond because we are frequently trying to make ourselves feel good without any intention of truly doing good on a persistent basis.
But, when we change our minds and allow God to truly cleanse us, God will hear our earnest prayers, God will forgive our broken contrite hearts, and God will begin to restore us to right relationship with Him in our health, wealth and relationships.
Is that not what we should all want and desire?
If you agree, pray for God to not just to heal your brokenness but to also change your mind about all the things that break you. Let Him be the potter and you be the clay. Let God clean up the messiness in your life.
Tonight, we will conclude our revealing journey through the book of Job. It is the celebration chapter, chapter 42. Be there as we see how the story ends and what God will share with us in it.
See you tonight and bring someone with you. The end of this story could be the beginning of yours and somebody else's.
Be blessed,
Rev. Cain