Wednesday, June 07, 2006

A new way of thinking...

Tuesday Morning I woke up and began reading the gospels. This time around I had decided to read them in chronological order. In doing so I was able to read a few different versions of John the Baptist preparing the way for Jesus. In doing so I kept focusing on the prophetic message from Isaiah the prophet who said:

"I will send my messenger adead of you, who will prepare your way"--"a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"

With this John started baptizing with water and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. In doing so, John the Baptist said "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals i am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

John the Baptist began fullfilling exactally what Isaiah said he would. He was simply preparing the way for the Lord to come.

As I was reading these passages I keep thinking about how the Lord did come after the work of John the Baptist. And then I starting thinking about the second coming of Christ. I started thinking about how now this responsibility of preparing the way of the Lord as described by John the Baptist and Isaiah now falls into new hands.

This responsibility is now on the hands of the followers of Christ all around the world. It is the job of the Christian to share the gospel and live out the gospel to the best of their ability while preparing the way of the Lord who will come again. Then I starting thinking about my role in all of this, and where I was in life.

Unfortunatly I do not live my life everyday with this in mind. I do not wake up to the alarm clock and tell myself that I am ready to prepare the way of the Lord. I am not ready to live the gospel, to teach the gospel to others so that they too may know the love of Christ.

My sins distract me and my selfish heart gets in the way.

I desire a change. A change of heart, and a change of additude. One that desires to serve. I want to make the right choices when temptation hits me. I was my ministry to be real. More real than ever.

My goal this summer is to push for these things. I want to live these out so that I can be an encouragement for fellow followers of Christ that may deal with the same stale faith.

This is why reading scripture over and over is so important.

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