Reading your Bible for today December 6

December 6: Matthew 3:1-6

KJV Key Verse: Matthew 3:6
6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

Devotion:
When some people describe John as being in the middle of the desert, it draws a picture of a man in the middle of nowhere with nothing around him but sand and sun. But in order for John to be able to attract so many people, I’m sure there must have been things nearby otherwise how would anyone have heard of him to start with. I doubt he was in a built-up area because he was depending on God for everything – but his semi-isolation did not stop him from preaching the Word of God and letting people know about the coming of Christ. He continuously preached how people should repent of their sins... how many churches do not get around to teaching us that nowadays but would rather concentrate on God’s love and mercy.

We always need to remember we do need to confess our sins to God. Christ came to give us a way whereby we would be sure our sins are forgiven, but that does not mean that will happen without us confessing our sins in the first place. Right from the beginning God has required that we do confess our sins to Him in one way or another. The offering of sacrifices was how it started but man soon enough corrupted that by rewriting the rules of sacrifices to suit himself. One rule man cannot ever rewrite is that our sins have been covered by Christ’s sacrifice of His own life on the cross; but in order for them to be forgiven, we have to first admit to them!

John made sure people understood just what repentance meant too. It was not the act of saying sorry, being forgiven and then going on in life in your normal manner. Repentance means we come forward knowing that what we have done wrong is wrong and that by admitting to it we are saying that we are now going to do our best to not go there again. Repentance is a life-changing action, not a simple sorry. John made sure his whole life was dedicated to making sure people knew that so when they confessed to Christ, they would rest in Him and His ways.

Points to Ponder:
How many times do you say you are sorry?

Have you repented to Christ?