Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

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Prophetic Voice for the Persecuted
Isaiah 1:10-20
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes;cease to do evil,learn to do good;seek justice,rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow (Isaiah 1:16,17).
The prophet Isaiah ministered to Israel at a time when society was marked by oppression of the poor, perversion of justice and peace, and idolatry.
Though the people were offering sacrifices for forgiveness of sins, there was no true feeling of repentance and transformation. Isaiah's message reminds the people of God that repentance and sanctification are necessary for a true relationship with God. That transformation should enable the believer to pursue good, understand the needs of others, and to respond creatively and positively.
We are living in a world where acts of intolerance, injustice, violence,and discrimination are affecting humanity. Human rights are being violated. Lives are being destroyed and lost. Human beings are being treated as a commodity as opposed to being the precious creation of God.
Jesus Christ gave Himself as the ultimate and final sacrifice to us, on the cross. Now it is up to us to offer our lives to him, and live as His true followers, and as people of conviction and concern for the last, least, and the lost, so that they can taste and see the goodness of God. This is our witness and divine responsibility.
Do we recognize the needs of others? Can we hear the cry of the land? Let us respond creatively and positively, for God's glory.
PRAYER
Lord God, enable us to lead lives of repentance and sanctification, so that humanity may come to know that you are God, in such a way that we all transform, Amen.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
God speaks for the persecuted. Do we hear it?
Christian Education Forum, Diocese of NAE of the Mar Thoma Church

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