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“Seek the Lord while he may be found;
call upon him while he is near;
let the wicked forsake his way,
and the unrighteous man his thoughts;
let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
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 ESV)
Many people are seeking for something, always searching, always trying this or that to try to find meaning to life and purpose and direction and/or satisfaction and fulfillment. Many of them don’t even know what they are searching for, but something to fill that emptiness that is inside of them. And so they will try alcohol or drugs or illicit sex or fantasies or education or recreation, etc., and sometimes it is just to drown out the realities of life.
So, in verses 2-3 it says this:
“Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,
and delight yourselves in rich food.
Incline your ear, and come to me;
hear, that your soul may live..”
And this is the Lord first seeking us. For we cannot even come to faith in Jesus Christ unless God the Father first draws us to Christ (John 6:44). And this is God the Father drawing us to Christ, encouraging us to come to him to find purpose and meaning to life. This is him letting us know that we will not find fulfillment and meaning to life in anything or in anyone else other than him. Only through God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ are any of us saved from our sins and have the hope of eternal life with God.
So what does that look like to seek the Lord and to call upon him? It involves us forsaking our wicked ways (our sins) and our unrighteous (sinful) thoughts and us turning to the Lord to follow him in his ways according to his commands (New Covenant). It means we no longer walk in sin, making sin our practice, but now righteousness, godliness, moral purity, honesty, faithfulness, and obedience to our Lord are what we practice, by the grace of God, and in his power, strength, and wisdom. For we love God.
And this is called repentance and it is called faith when we choose to turn away from the sinful lives we had been living to now walk in faithful obedience to our Lord in surrender to his will. It is like making a spiritual U-turn in a road. We were going left and now we are going right, in the opposite direction. Once we lived in slavery to sin. Now we live as slaves to God and to his righteousness in holy living, for the glory and praise of God.
And this is what it is like to believe in Jesus Christ. It is not just about repeating some words after another person in a prayer or making a public confession of Christ as Savior and Lord of one’s life. It is about heart and life transformation. We once lived for ourselves, for our own sinful pleasure, to do whatever we wanted to do. But now we live for the Lord Jesus to do what pleases him according to his perfect will for our lives. We now serve him with our lives by answering his call upon our lives to follow him where he leads.
And yes, he pardons (forgives) us our sins against him, but so that we will “go and sin no more,” not so that we will continue living in sin but while claiming Jesus as our Savior and heaven as our eternal destiny. For if we make a profession of faith in Jesus Christ but then we go on deliberately and habitually sinning against him and against other humans, we will die in our sins. We will not have the hope of salvation and eternal life with God.
For our thoughts are not God’s thoughts, and our ways are not his ways. So his thoughts and his ways need to become our thoughts and our ways if we want to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God. For if sin is what we practice, and not righteousness, and not obedience to our Lord, it will end in death, not in life eternal with God. So if we want to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God we must turn away from our sins and now follow our Lord in obedience to his ways, from now to eternity.
[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 15:1-11; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-24; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-11; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 10:23-31; 1 Co 10:1-22; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
For Our Nation
An Original Work / September 11, 2012
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
