Rend Your Heart

The prophet Joel tells us in Joel 2:12-14 "Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." Rend your heart and not your garments, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing-- grain offerings and drink offerings for the LORD your God." While most Christians agree that America has reached an amoral crisis, they offer differing views on how to aleviate the dilemma. Some believe that we need to be "seeker- sensitive" so that we can entice those who would not normally come to church to enter our doors. One wonders how we can be "seeker-sensitive" and still keep our worship centered on Christ. The danger of the seeker-sensitive service is that those seekers become the focus of all that we do in preparation for worshp instead of staying centered on Jesus Christ. In an effort to be "seeker-sensitive" some churches have refused to address sin, mention the cross, or call for repentance. How can we truly hope to transform America by catering to the very mindset that has led to the demise we find ourselves in? Should we seek to transfrom the worldly-minded by catering to the fleshly attitudes and desires? Others believe that we will see a change in America when those who are lost finally see the error of their ways and turn to God. However, most of these same people give no plan as to how these lost people are going to see an error in their ways.
I believe the cure to our amoral crisis in America is found in this passage in Joel. When the church returns to God with all their heart with brokenness and weeping then God will bring a sweeping revival that will first change our hearts and then fan the flame of our reignited passion for Christ so that it touches our communities, our cities, our states, and our nation. If we want to see a sweeping revival in our churches today then we as Christians must heed the words of Joel and rend our hearts. We must recognize the lethargic state of our relationship with Jesus Christ and pursue him with our whole heart. We must come before him broken about the sin in our hearts that blocks the access of the Holy Spirit into our lives. The church must stand before God in honesty and agree with Him that there are things in our lives that we must drop for Him to truly be God in our lives. When the church returns to God with broken hearts then God will respond with mercy and compassion and He will visit us with power and glory and leave in His wake a powerful blessing that will transform the lives of all he touches. Come now to God and rend your heart.