We were saddened to learn of the death of Joy Beardsell on 30 October 2021. Joy was born on 12 December 1934 in Pretoria, South Africa, to Leonard and Hilda Barrett. On 7 August 1955, Joy married Dr Derek Beardsell and their union brought about Eileen, Beryl and Robert.
Joy entered denominational employment in 1954 as a secretary at Helderberg College. Most of her denominational employment was as a secretary – from 1956 for the East Africa Union; from 1967 for the Central Africa Union; from…Source: https://adventist.uk/news/article/go/2021-11-23/death-of-joy-beardsell/
Wednesday: With All Your Heart
Deuteronomy 30:1-10 reveals the grace and goodness of God for backsliders and sinners, even when those sinners and backsliders were previously blessed by God in unique ways: “For what great nation is there that has God so near to it, as the LORD our God is to us, for whatever reason we may call upon Him?” (Deuteronomy 4:7). Even despite all that He had done for them, and despite the fact that they had no real excuse or justification for their sin, they sinned anyway (can anyone relate?).
And yet, even then — what?
In Deuteronomy 30:1-10, focus on what their repentance, their returning (teshuvah) to God entailed. What was required, and what should that teach us today about what true repentance involves?
Image © Consualo Udave at Goodsalt.com
Ultimately, they had to make the choice to return to Him, and to obey Him, with all their hearts. In one sense, the real issue was their hearts, because if their hearts were right with God, their actions would follow: that is, they would be obedient.
This is why they were given the wonderful promise that if they “returned” to the Lord, sincerely turned to Him, then He would work in them and would “circumcise” their hearts. They have to make the choice, amid their captivity, to return to God, and He would then bring them back to Himself and to the land. And then there, in the land, He would bless them. And part of the blessing is that He would work in them to change their hearts even more toward Him, so that they and their children would “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.”
In the end, responding to the promptings of God (see Acts 5:31), they would have to truly repent of their sins. And, although dealing with a different historical context, Ellen G. White wrote: “The people mourned because their sins had brought suffering upon themselves, but not because they had dishonored God by transgression of His holy law. True repentance is more than sorrow for sin. It is a resolute turning away from evil.” — Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 557. And this is a truth that we can see in Deuteronomy 30:1-10.
| How can we know the difference between being sorry for the consequences of our sins, which anyone can do, and being sorry for the sins themselves? Why is this distinction so important? |
Amen!
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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/wednesday-with-all-your-heart/
Updated: Pastor Burnett Robinson on Leave for Preaching Spousal Rape
Robinson, the senior pastor at an Adventist church in New York City, made comments that appeared to endorse marital rape. Robinson’s remarks indicated that he supported the idea of husbands wholly owning their wives. Petition calling for Robinson’s resignation has been started. 23 November 2021 | Burnett Robinson, senior pastor of the Grand Concourse Seventh-day […] Source: https://atoday.org/burnett-robinson-adventist-pastor-accused-of-supporting-spousal-rape/
What Aunt Sevvy wishes she’d said about thankfulness
22 November 2021 Dear Readers: Aunt Sevvy is busy this week getting ready to gather loved ones around her—as are many of you. Though she’s running in circles, she’s grateful she gets to do nice things for these people she loves. Not every November has been so happy for Aunty. There have been years when […] Source: https://atoday.org/what-aunt-sevvy-wish-shed-said-about-thankfulness/
Tuesday: Teshuvah
All through the book of Deuteronomy, a key theme appears: obey the Lord and be blessed, disobey and you will suffer the consequences. It’s no different in the New Testament. “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life” ( Galatians 6.7-8, NKJV).
Unfortunately, at least after the Fall, sin seems as easy and as natural as breathing. And despite all the warnings and promises — “For this commandment which I command you today is not too mysterious for you, nor is it far off” (Deuteronomy 30:11) — many of the people did precisely that: they fell into the sins that God had warned them about.
Image © Kevin Carden at Goodsalt.com
And yet, even then, God was willing to take them back if, using their free will, free choice, they repented and returned to Him.
Read again Deuteronomy 30:1-10. What is the Lord saying He will do for His people, despite all the wrong that they have done? What, though, was the condition upon which these wonderful promises rested?
The idea is simple and straightforward: if you mess up, terrible consequences will result for you and your family. That’s what sin does. However, even then, you can repent, and the Lord will take you back and bless you.
Numerous times the same Hebrew root word behind teshuvah appears in these verses. In Deuteronomy 30:2, the text says “and you return to the LORD your God” (NKJV, emphasis supplied); in Deuteronomy 30:8, though it is often translated, and correctly so, “you will again obey the voice of the LORD,” it could be translated literally, “And you return and obey the voice of the Lord.” Finally, in Deuteronomy 30:10, where it reads “and if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,” again the word “turn” is really “return.”
In other words, despite all that happened to them, despite their utter violation and breaking of the covenant, the Lord was not through with these people, and if they didn’t want Him to be through with them, they could manifest that desire by repentance.
| Though dealing with the nation as a whole, how do these texts, despite the different context from us today, still reflect the reality of how central true repentance is to us as believers who, at times, violate the covenant we have made with God, as well? |
Amen!(0)
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