Time for Repentance
There are times that call for repentance before the Lord, and He calls us to weep and mourn before Him. However, we often resist His call to repentance, because we would rather go merrily down the road to destruction without listening to His call.(Isaiah 22:12,13) This blindness is based on a wrong worldview or philosophy of life that we must change if we want the blessings of God in our lives.
The Epicurean philosophy of life was "Eat, Drink, and be Merry, for tomorrow we die." Many of God's people had adopted this false philosophy in Isaiah's day. Today, people express is differently, but it is the same false belief. It is Hedonism. It is the belief that life on earth is only about having happy times and good experiences, so get all of them you can, and don't worry about the serious issues of life. That worldview leads people right where Satan wants them to be. They take the broad road that leads to destruction, and they plug their ears from listening to the Lord.
Yes, we are to experience joy and happiness in life. God wants us to do that each day. However, there are times that call for repentance. There are times for weeping. There are times when we need to admit sins and confess them to the Lord, so we can be cleansed and move on to a higher level of holiness, to be more like Jesus. If all we want is to experience pleasures, we will never be like Jesus. He was a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He agonized in prayer even though He never sinned. If He took life seriously in seeking the perfect will of God, so should we. If God calls for repentance, we should fix our hearts and minds on humbling ourselves before Him, confessing our sins, and following His will completely. That is the path to peace and joy, not eating and drinking until we die.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Isaiah 23-26.
The Epicurean philosophy of life was "Eat, Drink, and be Merry, for tomorrow we die." Many of God's people had adopted this false philosophy in Isaiah's day. Today, people express is differently, but it is the same false belief. It is Hedonism. It is the belief that life on earth is only about having happy times and good experiences, so get all of them you can, and don't worry about the serious issues of life. That worldview leads people right where Satan wants them to be. They take the broad road that leads to destruction, and they plug their ears from listening to the Lord.
Yes, we are to experience joy and happiness in life. God wants us to do that each day. However, there are times that call for repentance. There are times for weeping. There are times when we need to admit sins and confess them to the Lord, so we can be cleansed and move on to a higher level of holiness, to be more like Jesus. If all we want is to experience pleasures, we will never be like Jesus. He was a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He agonized in prayer even though He never sinned. If He took life seriously in seeking the perfect will of God, so should we. If God calls for repentance, we should fix our hearts and minds on humbling ourselves before Him, confessing our sins, and following His will completely. That is the path to peace and joy, not eating and drinking until we die.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Isaiah 23-26.