Good Morning All,
Mark 1: 15; “and saying, “The time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the
gospel.”
It is
always fascinating to watch how we measure time. Sometimes, time can move so slowly that we
question if it moves at all. Think of
those times when you had to wait; like a 5-year-old waits for Christmas to
arrive. There are times in our life when
time just seems to vanish. Think of an
evening with old friends. I noticed this
when we were watching a close basketball game.
The score was never more than 5 points apart. As the fans watched the game,
they would look at the clock. The team
that was ahead kept wondering if they were shutting the clock off because it
seemed that no time was coming off the clock.
The fans of the team which was behind couldn’t believe how quickly the
time went. They were sure that they
didn’t put enough time on the clock to start with.
So, the
Apostle Mark has Jesus telling the world that the time is fulfilled. What does he mean? He means that this is the exact right time
for the events which are occurring to happen.
Everything is in place. The
players who are of any importance are present; the people are ready to go. The
time is right.
The kingdom
of God is at hand. Whenever you see the
phrase “the kingdom of God” or “the kingdom of heaven,” don’t think in terms of
a thing or a place. The kingdom of God
is an action taking place. The kingdom
of God is a verb and not a noun. The
kingdom of God is Jesus entering this world and taking back the broken and hurt
creation and restoring it to its proper place.
The kingdom of God is the reconciliation of man back to God. It is about God coming into your life and
changing your life so that you now have hope for life. The kingdom of God is about changing you into
the redeemed child of God who can be confident of your salvation and live with
hope for tomorrow. The kingdom of God is
alive and active in this broken world bringing peace and comfort where none
exists.
So, what do
we do? The answer is “repent.” Repent
means to change or to alter. Repent
means to turn around. So rather than
look away from God and only at ourselves, we are to turn toward God and seek
after him. Repent means to grab hold of
God’s reconciliation and to trust fully in him.
To repent is a response to the active work of the kingdom of God. It is the response to God’s invitation to be
free from sin. It is the invitation, at
just the right time, for you to be part of God’s holy family. It is the response to God’s grace that gives
to us the opportunity to live in his loving presence holding onto his
mercy. Repentance is having all the time
to grasp God’s steadfast goodness and to cling mightily to his love.
Father of all
mercy, in you we have hope. Father, we
ask that you bring about change in our lives.
Bring us to the knowledge and understanding of your great mercy. Strengthen our faith for those times when
nothing makes sense. Cling to us Father
so that we may cling back to you. Guard
and protect us and give us peace as only you can. In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.