Lenten Devotional - Thursday, Mar. 11

Day 20 - Thursday 

March 11

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found,

    call upon him while he is near;

7 let the wicked forsake their way,

    and the unrighteous their thoughts;

let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,

    and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

    nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.

9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways

    and my thoughts than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:6-9

It seems the Bible is full of re words: repent, reconcile, return. This is for good reason - we need to come back to God again and again. The disappointing reality is that we are good creatures gone bad, human beings living with the taint of sin. As much as we would like to deal with it and move on, sin has a way of creeping back on us and before we know it, we've allowed ourselves to be led on a path away from God and away from His good plans for us. The good news is that God knows us better than we know ourselves and He has given us Jesus to deal with our sin problem and forgive us of our disobedience. But that doesn't mean that we don't need to return, and to repent, and to reconcile. God has forgiven us, but we still need to restore the relationship.

Jesus was a realist when it comes to our sin nature. In the prayer he taught his disciples, he included a pattern for daily repentance: "Forgive us our sins, as we also have forgiven those who sin against us."

To Do

As you pray today, ask God to search your heart; notice any sins, in thought or action, that you become aware of. Confess these to God and allow yourself to feel the peace that comes with God's forgiveness.