A country church on a state highway was trying to raise enough money to pay off the mortgage on its new Family Life Center. One of the favorites was selling tickets for catfish suppers, grilled hamburgers, even chitlins, once.
On their sign out front, the preacher would post:
Catfish Supper
June 27, 5-7 p.m
Cost $8
Isaiah 55:2
No one ever told her they thought the sign was funny or appropriate.
and
Isaiah is writing to exiles in Babylon describing for them what their new life in an old place will be. Water for the thirsty. Food for the hungry. God promises to make with them an everlasting covenant. And because God has done so much for them, they are to reach out to strangers, to foreign strangers....
Sometimes when I read this passage from Isaiah, I focus on the everlasting covenant part, but, this week, since it is Lent, I'm looking harder at the repentance part. "Let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them...."
Remembering the parable of the fig tree that despite its three-year span of unfruitfulness has been given one more chance, I'm reading Isaiah's plea, "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near."
Is there a time limit for us? Well, even if there isn't, shouldn't we start seeking? If we haven't been calling, wouldn't this be a good time to?
Abundant pardon is available. Lent in a good time to ask for it, to live for it.
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