Dec 2, 2009
Lifestyle Repentance: The Costs of Preparing for Jesus
After John the Baptist called out the people coming to him as frauds, it seems that many made an appropriate response: “What should we do?”
John lists a series of actions they should do in order to prepare themselves for God. These seem like fairly obvious instructions. Stop stealing, give from your abundance, and don’t take advantage of anyone.
However, John is touching on patterns, accepted practices, and ways to live a little “better.” These were all things you’d expect for people to do back then. They could do all of these things.
They had to change their day-to-day lives in order to receive Jesus. They could have missed him if they were consumed by earning a little extra or taking advantage of others. They needed to learn to start caring for those around them, to reshape their prejudices, and to stop focusing on themselves.
