Perhaps we should make a list of the “lost words of Christianity.”

It seems like some things are not talked about as much today.

“Worldliness”, for instance, is a forgotten word, erased from usage by an overemphasis and sometimes misapplication of Christian liberty.

Sin and some of the classic words for it have been dropped from the vocabulary.

Adultery is an “affair” or a “fling,” for example.

Seldom do we hear the word “repent.”

Repentance implies the need for change.

Something is not right; actually, something is wrong.

The tendency today is to teach how God can meet man’s need-

– and not so much about how man needs to change.

The concept that God would judge is foreign to the minds of some people-

– yet is essential to His nature as a God of justice and righteousness.

To the people of Israel, God sent Hosea, a man who became a living parable of repentance and return.

His story is shocking:

He was married to a prostitute whom the Lord commanded to love as the Lord loved the Israelites (Hosea 3:1).

The reality of Hosea’s marriage teaches us the reality of God’s love for His wayward people, for us.

We are told, “‘Come, and let us return to the LORD. He has torn us to pieces but he will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our  wounds'” (Hos 6:1).

That is not what people may want to hear!

But it is what we need to hear!!

God will work in our lives-

– sometimes in forceful and unpleasant ways.

His goal is not to destroy-

– but to bring us back to Him.

Examine your life and think about areas in which God wants you to change.

Repentance is not just something of the past.

It needs to be a part of our present!

(PR)