How hard do you lean into God’s patience and his willingness to forgive? Do you intentionally do things you know you shouldn’t because you know you can ask for forgiveness later? Are you willing to continue to test God’s patience? Or will you give up your sin forever?
We all have a favorite sin (or we used to). We haven’t come to a point of willingness to give it up. Our viewpoint is simple: God will forgive me. After all, we are human and can only be so good. Yet, Jesus does not want to leave us in this state of mind.
In Luke 13, Jesus is speaking to a crowd of thousands. He is generally speaking of Israel as a country, but the concept applies to us as individuals as well. Especially after Jesus has lived, died, and risen again. He warns us that, though God is a God of second chances, his patience is not forever. At some point, time runs out.
We don’t want to hear that message. We like to think we have as long as we want to repent and turn back to God. Yet, that is a lie Satan is telling us so he might lure us away from God. When the day of judgment comes, we all will stand an answer for our sins. Yes, Jesus will be our intercessor, but will we have strayed so far that we have denied Him?
The Israelites were at that very breaking point. The leadership was denying who Jesus was. Ultimately, they would condemn Him to death. It wasn’t a sudden fall, it was gradual, taking several centuries to occur. We should learn the lesson and refuse to slip away.
I pray we all evaluate our sins and repent. I pray we turn back to God wholeheartedly. I pray each one of us will heed Jesus’ warning and stop testing God’s patience, seeking to be true followers of Jesus. Repent of your sins. Turn wholeheartedly to God. Be a follower of Jesus.
Luke 13:7 “So he said to the man working the vineyard, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’”
Marty Pressey 