God Wants Everyone to Come to Repentance -Advent 2 (2019)

In 2 Peter 3:9, we read that God wants everyone to come to repentance. It doesn’t matter if we’re a butcher, baker, candlestick maker, or even a priest. Since we all fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23), there’s repentance God wants from each and every one of us…individually. And sometimes, the means He uses to get us there are surprising.

Consider poor Zechariah who is falling far short of the faith
one might expect from a priest.

Luke 1:18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” 19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.”

God wasn’t angry enough to withdraw the blessing of the birth of Messiah’s forerunner, John the Baptist, and give that blessing to someone else. The bigger picture required Elizabeth giving birth. But the lack of faith Zechariah exhibited in asking for a sign revealed something far deeper. A few months of silence, God’s time-out-corner, was what was necessary for Zechariah to repent of his pride and come to humble acknowledgment of his failures to believe God when it mattered most.

Think about it:

When you experience difficult times, do you ever ask yourself what God is attempting to teach you…about faith in Christ … and repentance?
God takes repentance so seriously that He sent His Son Jesus, born at this Christmas season to die for our sins. He’s being patient. But someday that patience will be exhausted and Jesus will return for those who came to repentance and His forgiveness will cover them. Have you repented?

What God wants for Christmas is…everyone to come to repentance.

Dear Lord, I acknowledge that I am blind to my own sinfulness. Too often, I imagine that I am a pretty good person by comparing myself with others and in doing so, I ignore how my sin looks in Your eyes. I echo the words of the psalmist who asked You “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24). Please show me where I need to repent and how the circumstances I’m viewing as bad may be Your given means to open my eyes. I need You and Your forgiveness. Thank you, Lord. I praise You for Your goodness and patience. In Jesus’ mighty Name, I pray. Amen.

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Join me beginning December 1, 2019 by signing up on the sidebar of my Home Page to receive these daily devotionals. Let’s enjoy exploring what might be on God’s Christmas list.

Acknowledging inquiries about an entire season’s devotionals for your study group’s planning purposes, Seminary Gal’s prior seasons’ Advent devotionals can be accessed via the archives to the right and are as follows:

Last year’s Advent Devotional Series (2018) Storyteller began December 2, 2018 and entered into the Christmas story through its telling.
The 2017 series Still Christmas, began December 3, 2017 and was the Advent complement to the Lenten series, Be Still and Know that I AM God.
The 2016 season devotionals were called “Timeless: The Message of Christmas for All Ages” and explored how the message of Christmas is timeless truth, for all ages of people, and for all ages at all times. Timeless hope, encouragement, grace, peace, and love as we looked into the Word, saw the face of our Lord Jesus, and experienced restoration in His presence. His goodness and His Gospel are truly Timeless. The 2016 devotionals began November 27, 2016.
The 2015 season devotionals were titled Incarnation and involved digging deep–and yes, I mean deep– in this important mystery of Christian theology. They began November 29, 2015.
Carol Me, Christmas! remains one of my most popular offerings and tells the Christmas story through our most beloved Christmas hymns and carols. You can access all of the numbered devotionals from 2014 via the archives. They began November 30, 2014.
The 2013 series was Emmanuel: When LOVE Showed Up in Person and examined the Prologue to the Gospel of John. It began December 1, 2013.
The 2012 series focused on Expecting the Unexpected…the unexpected, unlikely, and uniquely divine qualities of God’s perfect plan outlined in Luke’s account of the Christmas story. It began December 1, 2012.