The Devotional - What is that between your ears?

The Devotional

Comment: Many folks do not understand the ministry of baptism and repentance from good and evil, nor do they understand faith toward God. Good and evil is the world’s mode of operation; it would be good to go to church, it would be evil to refrain from church. It would be good to practice a religion, it would be evil to reject religion. Israel in the day of John the baptizer was steeped in religion, yet they were full of idolatry and immorality. Malachi the prophet of God said in his book that Israel was polluted because their offerings to God were contemptible, their priest were corrupt, they were full of treachery and infidelity (this too, is a current day description of religion) – Malachi 1 and 2. He continues for two more chapters, in chapter 3 there is a promise from God to send a messenger, this messenger is John the Baptizer. Now in chapter 4, the next event on God’s calendar is the Great and terrible Day of the LORD. Malachi is to be studied in devotion to God and not in the pretense of religion. This is true of all of the Living Word of God.

Devotional: John 1:19-28 – Question: Do you have a religious relationship with your church, or do you have a PERSONAL relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ? The answer to this question is the difference between eternity in heaven and eternity in hell. The distance is not very far, for the average person it is only six inches. Say what? Yes, it is the distance from your right ear to your left one. In other words… where do you place your heart and soul? Do you place your heart and soul in the hands of human religion or in the Hands of the Living God?

If you are depending on the polluted priests and the offerings of sinful man in their religious practices then, quite frankly you are on your way to an eternity without God. Notice the testimony of John the baptizer when the priests and Levites asked John, “Who are you?” John’s reply “I am not the Messiah/Christ”. The priests and the Levites knew Malachi’s prophesy, they were seeking to know if John might be the Messiah.

John the baptizer quotes from Isaiah the prophet and says this: “I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness (religion), make straight the way of the LORD.” Israel like the religion of our day is in the eyes of God a wilderness and dessert, in other words. GOD IS NOT PRESENT IN RELIGION. Religion understands the messages and warning of God in His Word and religion looks for the return of God, but it is not PERSONAL thus it is full of FEAR.

John the baptizer’s message to the religious crowd of his day was to repent from this understanding of God and return to a PERSONAL relationship with God. So many people heard the message and came to John the baptizer at the river Jordan and was baptized. They confessed their idolatry and immorality AND they changed their mind about their relationship to God. This same message of repentance is very real and vital for each of us today. We MUST be willing in our heart and soul to trust God and reject religion.

This change of mind is the only WAY is the Biblical definition of repentance. He who comes after repentance from the dead works of religion is the PERSONAL GOD of CREATION. As we move into John chapter 1 on Monday we will see that He is Jesus/Messiah. He is preferred because He is God, John says that the coming One is the Messiah with these words. “It is He who, coming after me, is preferred (ranks higher) than I, whose sandal strip I am not worthy to loosen.” If your relationship to God is through Jesus, then you understand John’s message.