During the second half of the game last night, there were two commercials that jumped out at me… and several of you!  First there was a commercial for Doritos with a fancy dance-off that I could never match.  Shortly afterwards there was a commercial for Jeep’s new truck featuring Bill Murray reprising his role in Groundhogs Day.

I found myself chuckling as both these ads aired — they were almost direct from my sermon… and a couple of you caught it as well and started texting me!  Clearly, some of you were paying attention yesterday 🙂

Seriously though, I hope those of you who were able to join us yesterday were challenged to spend some time with God this week reflecting on the question of repentance and mercy. (If you missed yesterday’s sermon, listen to it here)  Too often we allow the majority of our self to be enough to give to God.  By giving Him 99% of my life, He should be placated.  The truth, however, is an all or nothing deal.  The Ninevites understood that as they responded to Jonah’s preaching.  They fully turned and fully surrendered to God.  As their hearts turned, God poured out His mercy and spared them!

We too need to turn fully to God!  The challenge is that we oftentimes do turn fully to Him only to slowly rotate away.  Sadly the Ninevites would fall into this trap and only a few decades after repenting would find themselves back where Jonah found them.  Ultimately, they were overthrown because of their wickedness.  We  have a tendency to revert to our “factory settings.”  Our natural course of action is to go back to our old ways.

This is why we need to make time to ask ourselves questions about repentance and mercy.  Is there something today that wasn’t there last week?  Am I turning back toward things?  Am I reverting to my “factory settings?”  Praise God!  He will always meet us in these moments and pour out His mercy as we return to Him!

As the sun pours in your windows today (for the first time in weeks and probably the last time this week), spend some time enjoying the presence of God in your life and allow Him to speak to your heart.  Ask Him to show you anything that needs to be addressed today!

In Christ Alone,

Pastor Jan