Repent and Believe - Daily Conversion is Necessary

I was saddened on Friday when, after hearing a middle of the road say nothing type Inaugural speech from our new President on how we have many challenges ahead and the road will be difficult both home and aboard, the President choose quickly to sign a policy lifting the ban on federal tax dollars to support international abortion groups. What I especially found difficult was he did it right after the 36th annual March for Life Rally in Washington D.C. It discouraged me so much that I sent an email to some of my closest friends complaining. Something I don’t normally do. I sat and wondered how, with all these educated people, on at least Inaugural Day, say they owed everything to God their Divine Maker and how, if we hold true to our founding fathers original documents, we will again be a great nation. I believe we are still a great nation and that it became great because the founding fathers placed God at the forefront and with God’s assistance these God fearing men wrote these beautiful documents and formed a great nation.

With this on my mind, I struggled through my Evening Prayer time on Friday and Morning Prayer on Saturday. Finally while meditating on the Sunday scriptures a peace came over me. I came to some understanding of repent and believe and that daily conversion is necessary for salvation especially in these difficult times. The scripture readings for the 3rd Sunday in ordinary time (cycle B – Jonah 3:1-5, 10, 1 Corinthians 7:29-31, and the Gospel Mark 1:14 – 20) all speak to repentance, belief, and conversion. In these readings, focus on the words repent and believe. Repent means to examine yourself to see where you have separated yourself from God or weakened your relationship with Him (sin). Believe means simply not only say the words or phrases of our faith, but to think about and understand what those words or phrases mean. With Jesus’ words on repentance and belief he was making disciples out of each one of us. When He made disciples out of people He did not just say, go and preach the Good News. It wasn’t a onetime conversion of faith. Jesus invited them to be with Him, eat with Him, travel with Him, and pray with Him. This daily interaction with Jesus helped the disciples through their struggles and to their daily conversion and understanding of Christ in their lives.

Since we are disciples (priests) by our baptism we need to examine our lives daily; repent and believe. Being a disciple is not a onetime conversion of faith (experience). Because if it were people would become stale or cold, we need to hear Jesus’ message again and again REPENT AND BELIEVE.

Though we have real hard challenges ahead of us nobody should think that these are the most important things. The most important thing is the salvation of souls. A single soul is everything. Everything else is small in comparison. Someday the United States along with all other nations or countries will be non-existent. You and I, we will be beginning our eternal existence with God. In our second reading from Corinthians Paul says, “weeping as not weeping, rejoicing as not rejoicing, using the world as not using it fully. For the world in its present form is passing away.” The message is that good , bad, or indifferent this time, this era will pass, and though we must live, work, and participate fully in its events remember we live in this world but are not of this world. What counts for us as Disciples of Christ is our love and treatment of our fellow man. Living the Beatitudes enables us to achieve the salvation of souls. Living the Beatitudes brings us all into the presence of God. Where is there a better place to be?

Though recent events are discouraging, with prayer and the grace and mercy of God, we the Disciples of Christ by our actions will make this world a better place.