Joel
2:12-14 (ESV) "Yet even now," declares the Lord,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13 and
rend your hearts and not your garments."
Return to the Lord, your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to
anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and
relent,
and
leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the
Lord your God?
NOTE: To "rend
your garments," (tearing them) is an outward sign of what should be an
inward attitude. Our sin should cause us to tear our hearts. But what does it
mean to tear your hearts? Psalm 51 tells us, "The sacrifices of God are a
broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise."
To rend our heart is to recognize how utterly sinful our actions have been, and
how utterly sinful our heart is (because we desired to do what was wrong). We
can't replace our heart or this flesh in this life, but we can transform it.
First we must recognize how sinful we are. Then we follow the instructions in
Romans 12-13. We surrender our lives to God. We seek to transform our mind
through daily time in the word of God. We become actively involved in
fellowship, the local body. Lastly, we recognized that our lives have purpose.
We are to live in such a way as to bring others to Jesus Christ through our
actions, lifestyle, kindness, and words of truth.
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