Daily Lesson for May 9, 2014

Today's Daily Lesson is from Matthew chapter 4 verse 17:

"From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"

When Jesus came preaching, he came with the same message of John the Baptist before him.  It was a message calling on people to repent for the sake of the nearness of God's kingdom.

To repent literally means "to change the mind".  It means changing the way one thinks.  It is a reprogramming of our thought processes and daily patterns of existence.  It is really whole life change.

A lot of people think that change happens by adding religion to our daily lives.  They continue doing what they've been doing, but add church.  Or they carry on with their lives, but start reading the Bible.  Going to church and reading the Bible are good things and I am definitely in favor of them, but true transformation necessitates more than these.  Real change demands a comprehensive deprogramming and reprogramming of the soul.  It means learning to think differently from the way we have thus far learned to think. It means unlearning a lot of the habits of thought we have been living and coping with from our childhood up until now.

That kind of change requires more than an hour on Sunday or 15 minutes in the morning; it actually requires complete surrender of one's whole life - including relationships, calendar, pocketbook and, most necessary of all, pride.

Most people aren't willing to pay that kind of price for life change; but those who are begin to discover that what John and Jesus said was absolutely true.  The kingdom of Heaven really is right at hand.