sokin's devotional 2

"produce fruit in keeping with repentance...the ax is at the root of the trees and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire..."

luke 3:8,9

"when king jeroboam heard what the man of God cried out against the altar at Bethel, he stretched out his hand from the altar and said, "seize him!" But the hand he stretched out towards the man shriveled up, so that he could not pull it back...the king said to the man of God, "come home with me and have something to eat, and i will give you a gift..."

1 kings 13:4-7

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we are called to bear the fruit, the marks of repentance. but it is important to note that God always desires the heart first, not the actions.

actions will always follow after a heart change/transformation/repentance. it does not work the other way around.

it first begins with our repentance - acknowledging with God that our ways around wrong and that our hearts are inherently corrupt. we surrender to this verdict. once this happens, the Holy Spirit will convict us and move us into action. our actions must/will follow after a heart change.

king jeroboam had it all wrong - he tried to use religion to find favor in the eyes of God. he tried to "buy" back favor with the prophet and thereby bypass God's judgment on his reign.

jeroboam tried to go straight to the fruit of repentance without experiencing repentance in himself first.

friends, we must not try to use our religion to gain favor in the eyes of God. nor can we expect to see changes in our lifestyle just from doing Christianity.

we must first experience the stinging conviction of our sin. we have to seek repentance at the foot of the Cross. we must see that upon Christ, our judgement was upon Him. THIS should move us into action.