Preparing the Way of the Lord

FRESH Official Podcast

In my experience – perhaps in yours, too – God does some rather … well, odd things; things that we don’t expect; things that leave us wondering … why?

Take for instance John the Baptist whom God sent out before Jesus to, as the Bible says, prepare the way for the Lord. Okay, fair enough. Perhaps the way needed preparing. But he was on odd fellow indeed:

Mark 1:4-6 So John the Baptiser came and was baptising people in the desert area. He told them to be baptised to show that they wanted to change their lives, and then their sins would be forgiven. All the people from Judea, including everyone from Jerusalem, came out to John. They confessed the bad things they had done, and he baptised them in the Jordan River. John wore clothes made from camel’s hair and a leather belt around his waist. He ate locusts and wild honey.

Camel’s hair, locusts, honey … really? Despite that, despite the fact that he was out in the desert (not in the temple, or even a synagogue) people flocked to him to hear his decidedly inconvenient message: change your lives so that your sins will be forgiven – or, using the old terminology, repent!

It’s not a message most people want to hear. Let’s face it, is it one that you want to hear? And yet, they flocked to him. It seems that God in his wisdom knew that people needed a profound change of heart before they were ready for Jesus to walk into their lives.

Friend, have you had that change of heart? Are you ready to let go of the sin that clings so tightly to your soul? In Jesus’ name, repent, change your life and your sins will be forgiven.

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.