Sabbath: Turn Their Hearts

Image © Pacific Press

Sabbath Afternoon

Read for This Week’s Study: Deuteronomy 5:22-29; Deuteronomy 4:25-31; Deuteronomy 30:1-10; Matthew 3:1-8; Mark 1:15; Acts 2.37-38.

Memory Text: “But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deuteronomy 4:29).

A simple fact of life follows us all: we are sinful. Occasionally we hear some “expert” bemoan the Christian idea of basic human corruption, but all one has to do is look at the news for a day or so or take a quick survey of human history, and the truthfulness of this Christian doctrine becomes apparent.

Or, even easier, all one has to do is look in the mirror; not that far, actually. Whoever has the courage to take a long look deep inside one’s own heart (which can be a scary place to go) knows the truthfulness of Romans 3:9-23, which ends with the words: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

Of course, the good news is found in the next verse, about being “justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24). Crucial to this great news is repentance: acknowledging our sin, being sorry for it, asking God’s forgiveness for it and, ultimately, turning away from it. Because we are sinful, repentance should be a central part of our Christian existence. And, this week, we will see the idea of repentance as expressed in Deuteronomy.