Growing up, I was in middle school and high school when the Left Behind series started to come out. There were actually even books specifically written for teens, which I shared with my friends. There is a fascination with the end times.
However, I have realized that part of our fascination may come from a less than holy place. We want to read about what will happen to other people for surely we are okay. Surely we are aligned with the purposes of the Lord.
The prophet Joel was writing to a people who thought that they were lock-step with God. They did all the right things. They made the right sacrifices. They went to the temple at the correct days and times of the year.
Yet, God is telling them that while they were doing the right things on the outside, their hearts were in need of a change on the inside.
We need time to examine our hearts. To ask for God's mercy and forgiveness anew. It is so much easier to pray for other people than to ask God to examine our hearts. To point out any unconfessed sin. To change us.
Yet that is part of what the season of Advent is about. We celebrate the Messiah who came in an unexpected way to change the world. To change us. Let us give our hearts anew to God this Advent season and pray for transformation.
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