It has been very interesting to say the least, to watch the first week of the Presidency of Donald Trump unfold. He has made appointments and issued executive orders which have pleased some, but have infuriated others. But there was, to me, a very telling statement on the CNN news website this week. CNN, as you might expect, has pretty much lambasted President Trump all week. But one day the lead story read that, love it or hate it, President Trump is doing just what he said he would do. And there’s something to that. In an era where we’ve almost come to expect empty words and empty promises in just about every arena of human life, it is somewhat refreshing to see someone actually DO what they said they would!
Last week we saw that John the Baptist came to the people of Israel with a strong message: after 400 years of silence, God sent him with the call to repentance: make a “u-turn” from what you have been doing, and come back to God. And the Bible tells us that people responded to that message. But when they did, John greeted them in an unusual way. Verse 7 says, “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, ‘You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”
We need to understand that the response that John had for those who came out to the Jordan River that day is the message that GOD has for many of us here in America today: “Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.” Don’t just make an empty “commitment” to God; DO what you say you are going to do. If you say you are really repenting and coming back to God, then DO it. “Bring forth the fruit of repentance.”
shawnethomas 