January 8, 2018

Mark 1:4 And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins

What is repentance? We often think of repentance as getting your act together, changing some wrong or damaging pattern in your life. And that is correct. Repentance means changing some sort of action. But the root of the word in the New Testament language (1^st century Greek) is mind. The Greek online dictionary I often use defines it this way: “a change of mind… of a purpose he has formed or of something he has done.” We make a distinction between what we believe or think and what we do, how we act. I’m not sure John or the folks in Jesus’ day made that kind of distinction. If you think something is true but don’t act on it, maybe you don’t really believe it is true. John was calling for people to be baptized as an indication that they were redirecting their thoughts and actions towards the one who was coming, that is, Jesus, and that in this change of attitude and purpose and movement would be found forgiveness. What needs to change in the focus of your life this week?