“For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: ‘Seek me and live;‘“
– Amos 5:4

God’s grace is breathtaking! Despite a scathing indictment of the ongoing injustice, moral confusion, and idolatry of His people, the Lord still offers forgiveness and restoration. This is the glorious goodness, grace, and mercy of our patient and loving God!

No matter how far we fall short of God’s standard and no matter how far we try to run from His presence, He’s always there, ready to forgive us and embrace us as His own beloved children!

Because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross, which paid the penalty for our sins through His atoning death and resurrection to life, forgiveness is freely available to all who truly believe. No matter what we’ve done, no matter our guilt, our shame, our humiliation, our cruelty, our selfishness, and our sin, God doesn’t hide Himself from us.

All we must do is repent – be truly sorry for what we’ve done and turn away from it, asking God to forgive us in Christ – and He will forgive us. Every time. All the time. Seek Him and live!

“‘I struck you with blight and mildew;
your many gardens and your vineyards,
your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured;
yet you did not return to me,’
declares the Lord.“
– Amos 4:9

God’s discipline is an uncomfortable topic! Would a kind, loving, and merciful God actually put harsh things into our lives to get us to return to Him in faithfulness? Absolutely!

Scripture is clear that because God loves us so much, He disciplines us. He permits painful experiences and seasons in our lives and in the world so that we would turn back to Him in deeper faith, maturity, and obedience. This isn’t intended to be hurtful because God genuinely seeks what is best for us from an eternal perspective.

God’s discipline hurts in the moment, but its fruit is a vibrant, dynamic relationship with the Creator of the Universe that will endure for millions, billions, and trillions of years! Thus God permits us to suffer the consequences of our sinful decisions. And thus God permits us to suffer as a means of turning our attention away from our selfish pursuits and toward His design and blessing for our lives. God disciplines us to refocus and refine our faith into something pure and beautiful. This is no different than a parent who lovingly disciplines a young child to shape her character and help her grow to her full potential.

Much of the suffering in our lives is simply the outworking of living in a fallen world marred by sin and filled with sinful people. However, some of our suffering is God’s effort to get our attention and turn it away from that which is ultimately far worse for us. We must be reflective on our struggles, seeking to discern whether we too need to return to the Lord.

“But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God.” – Romans 2:29

The mystery revealed through the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that inclusion in the people of God isn’t based on birth, ethnicity, genetics, external procedures, rituals, or observances. Circumcision of the body doesn’t make someone a member of God’s family, only heart transformation does. This means that the invitation to join God’s family is open to every person of every tribe, tongue, nation, and people!

What the Bible calls circumcision of heart is the mark of the people of God and it’s available to anyone. It describes a heart that’s yielded and devoted to the Lord and renewed by the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus Christ. Through faith in Christ, the Holy Spirit replaces our “heart of stone” – hard, selfish, and cruel – with a “heart of flesh” – tender, loving, and beloved.

This is a work done entirely by God. We aren’t saved or transformed by our own good works, though we must certainly yield ourselves to God to experience this circumcision of heart. Have you yielded your heart to Christ?

“And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” – Jonah 4:11

God loves those who are very far from Him. He loves those who oppose, oppress, and persecute His people. He deeply desires for them to enter into relationship with Him through faith in Christ. It was true in Jonah’s day and it’s true today.

As the world increasingly divides our nation and encourages us to genuinely loathe those different from us, followers of Christ must utterly reject this temptation! Christians cannot turn inward with hard and hateful hearts toward those most opposed to the faith. Rather than respond in anger and seek every possible means to defeat those opposed to the faith, we must view them as God does and seek to win them to Christ through our love, our good works, and our testimony.

We’re surrounded by millions and billions who “do not know their right hand from their left” calling what is good evil and what is evil good. God didn’t appoint us to this time to battle them. He appointed us to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to them.

We don’t have to like it – Jonah certainly didn’t. But we do have to be faithful in genuinely sharing Christ, especially with those radically different from ourselves and currently opposed to everything we believe.

“Because your heart was penitent, and you humbled yourself before the Lord, when you heard how I spoke against this place and against its inhabitants, that they should become a desolation and a curse, and you have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord.” – 2 Kings 22:19

God hears, loves, and honors the prayers of a penitent heart! Whether you’re a king or a commoner, God hears your heartfelt cries of sorrow for the sin around you and of repentance for your part in that sin. As followers of Jesus, we know that our sins are forgiven whenever we turn sharply away from them (called repentance) and ask God’s forgiveness.

Unfortunately this marvelous grace we enjoy can sometimes cause us to be too casual and unfeeling about sin and the awful rejection of God’s authority it represents! Sin is truly and profoundly ugly and awful! Thankfully, the beauty of the cross is that we never need to wallow in sorrow in an unhealthy, self-flagellating effort to somehow “earn” God’s forgiveness, because that’s impossible.

Nonetheless, there’s a place for healthy lament and sorrow for sin – our own as well as that of our church, community, country, and world. There is value and significance in Christians lamenting to God with sorrow and repentance for the immorality and injustice that surrounds us (and not just one or the other based on our politics!)

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.”