“Repent, And Return To The LORD!”

“Repent, And Return To The LORD!”(Ho.14:1-4).
Parents know that pampered children are udually wayward, rude, ill-mannered and impolite. Africans use the rod and fix the child; we do not spare the rod to spoil the child.
Our relationship with God is the same as the relationship between parents and their children.
Israel was a kind of pampered child. God spared the rod on them, and spoiled them in the process. They spent time boasting of their special relationship with God. Yet, they disregarded the decrees, laws and precepts of the LORD.
Whoever finds favour with the LORD should devote time to do what the LORD expects of all his favoured children
In the same way that the LORD told Israel of old, he is telling us today,“Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God. Your sins have been your downfall! Take words with you and return to the LORD. Say to him: ‘Forgive all our sins and receive us graciously, that we may offer the fruit of our lips… We will never again say, our god to what our own hands have made, for in you the fatherless find compassion.'”
An advocate of a theology of reconstruction says reconstruction should be at three levels viz: Firstly, individuals should free themselves of their sins. Only then can they have the moral voice to address the ills of others.
The second level of reconstruction is ecclessiatical. The Church must free herself of evil and corrupt practices that stiffles her moral voice such that she is no longer the conscience of society.
Thus armed with a good conscience, the Church can now turn to reconstruct society by boldly naming the evil of governments, in a bid to restore a sane society where the fear of the LORD will be the desire of citizenship.
The repentance which the LORD requires of us in this text must be at these levels. We cannot ask for what we cannot offer, and we cannot give what we do not have. As the chosen of the LORD, whichever change we want to see must begin with us and from us. Then we have to ensure that all of us who are chosen, and who are called “CHURCH” must set the example of what ought to be. Only then can we muster the moral voice to turn to the secular society to tell them, “This is the way to go!”
We have this blessed assurance from the LORD that if we repent and abandon all our man-made gods, he will heal our waywardness and love us freely! And this he has done through his Son Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.
Return to the LORD, call on the name of Jesus Christ and be saved to save others.
Prayer: LORD forgive all our sins and receive us graciously in the name of Jesus Christ your son our Lord. Amen!
Have a blessed day! Peace be with you!
Rev Babila Fochang.