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Mar.31.05: Light for the Day - "Danger Zone"

-- 2 Chronicles 7:14 
If my people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

-- Isaiah 1:18-20
18 "Come now, let us argue this out," says the LORD. "No matter how deep the stain of your sins, I can remove it. I can make you as clean as freshly fallen snow. Even if you are stained as red as crimson, I can make you as white as wool.
19  If you will only obey Me and let Me help you, then you will have plenty to eat.
20  But if you keep turning away and refusing to listen, you will be destroyed by your enemies. I, the LORD, have spoken!”

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Danger Zone

A foolish old farmer, so the story goes, concluded one day that the oats he had fed his mule for years were simply costing him too much. So he hatched a plan: he mixed a little sawdust in with the feed, and then a little more the next day, and even more the next, each time reducing the amount of oats in the mix.
The mule didn’t seem to notice the gradual change, so the farmer thought things were fine and kept decreasing the proportion of oats. But weeks later, on the day he finally fed the poor beast nothing but sawdust, the mule finished the meal and fell over dead.

A silly tale, perhaps, but it serves as a parable of the backslider—the Christian who slips further and further away from God through un-repented sin or neglect. Though we know our souls cannot survive on spiritual sawdust, we may well convince ourselves that a little won’t hurt too much, and a little less real spiritual food won’t be missed. Then, over time, the proportion of sawdust increases while the oats gradually disappear.     Before long, the change is complete, and our starved, sawdust-stuffed spiritual life has collapsed.

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-- Isaiah 55:6-11
6 Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

-- Revelation 2:2-5
2 I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false.
3 You have persevered and have endured hardships for My name, and have not grown weary.
4 Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.
5 Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lamp stand from its place.

-- Revelation 3:3,15,16,19-21
3 Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.
15 "I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold. I wish you were one or the other!
16 But since you are like lukewarm water, I will spit you out of My mouth!
19 Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.
20 Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with Me.
21 To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with Me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

-- James 4:5-10
5 What do you think the Scriptures mean when they say that the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, jealously longs for us to be faithful?
6 He gives us more and more strength to stand against such evil desires. As the Scriptures say, "God sets Himself against the proud, but He shows favor to the humble."
7 So humble yourselves before God. Resist the Devil, and he will flee from you.
8 Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, you hypocrites.
9 Let there be tears for the wrong things you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy.
10 When you bow down before the Lord and admit your dependence on Him, He will lift you up and give you honor.

-- Matthew 4:17 
From that time on Jesus began to preach, 
"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

-- Luke 15:7 
I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

-- Psalm 103
2 Praise the LORD, I tell myself, and never forget the good things He does for me.
3 He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.
4 He ransoms me from death and surrounds me with love and tender mercies.
5 He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!