A hospital for sinners

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “The Great Adventure”

Our Bible verse for today: “So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten.” Joel 2:25 (NKJV)

Our thought for today: “A hospital for sinners”

In yesterday’s devotional I wrote about the fact that at some time and in some way each of us was a wayward sinner in need of grace, kindness, forgiveness, and a second chance. At many times and in many ways each of us has often needed to be reconciled and restored to God and to others. And, there have been many occasions when each of us has been on the other side of that coin and we have been the ones who needed to extend grace, kindness, forgiveness and a second chance to someone else.

In the Old Testament book of Joel, God was speaking to the people of Israel about their apostasy and the suffering they were bringing on themselves because of it. But then He spoke of a day when they would finally come to their senses and they would come back to the Lord. Then they would be forgiven, reconciled, and restored. In 2:25 God even said that He would help them to regain much of what they had lost because of their years of living in sin.

It’s a great promise and it’s one that I often refer to when I’m working with men in jails, prisons, and rehab centers who have lost much as a result of years of substance abuse. Come back to God and you will find grace, kindness, forgiveness, reconciliation, and a second chance. You will even find that He will help you to begin rebuilding the life you destroyed.

At different times and in different ways we’re all a mess. Not one of us has “arrived.” We’re all a work in progress and we are all in the process of getting better. I’m sure you have heard the old cliché that the church isn’t a country club for saints, it’s a hospital for sinners. That is a cliché but it’s a true one. Church is the place where everyone should be able to come to get well. And more than another sermon about our need to get well (from the preacher or from other Christians), what we really need is a safe place to cry, repent, reconcile, and be restored. Church should be that place.

The local church is a gift from God and the purpose of it is to be that safe place, that shelter from the storms of life where we can go to get well. On this adventure that is the Christian life, it is essential for you as a Christian to be fully involved in the life of a good church.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

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