Turn Toward What Matters
Around 957 B.C., after King Solomon spent years planning, building, and, finally dedicating the temple that his father, King David, had longed for—God made Himself known by sending fire down from heaven and filling the temple with His presence.
Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night, explaining how He’d heard his prayer and chosen his temple—reminding Solomon how the Israelites should respond when they encounter hard things. He said:
“Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 NLT
Though this specific message was given to a specific people at a specific time in history—humbling ourselves, seeking God, and turning from our sins are timeless actions that we should continue to live out.
True humility, honest prayer, and genuine repentance are the keys to intimacy with God.
And we can’t fake it. We can’t just go through the motions. We can’t merely pretend to “look” humble and repentant … and we can’t do these things on our own.
We need to come to God in order to receive His help. We need Him in order to maintain a posture of humility, prayer, and repentance.
So if you’ve found yourself feeling distant from God, trying to do things your own way, or intentionally running in the opposite direction of your Creator—it’s not too late to turn around.
You can still come to God, admit that you can’t go through life alone, and seek His help. He’s a loving, forgiving, and healing Father who specializes in making all things new. He never stops inviting us to draw near to Him.
The Greatest Treasure
Matthew 13:44 contains some of the most impactful imagery in all of Scripture...
Just imagine for a moment: You are walking across a field and stumble upon an ancient treasure, forgotten by the whole world. You realize the plot of land is for sale. What would you do? How quickly would you sell everything you have to buy the field with the treasure? Fast? Of course! You’ve found something of great value, worth so much more than anything you had before!
Jesus uses this imagery to illustrate the Kingdom of heaven. When you discover the true value of something like that, you give all you have to grab hold of it, to be part of it, to have it for yourself.
And what is the Kingdom of heaven?
The Kingdom of heaven is God’s will on earth. It’s the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news that we can be set free from sin and walk in His mercy and grace. The Kingdom of heaven is right now, and it's an invitation to you.
Have you discovered it? The joy, energy, excitement of ...