Dear Family and Friends,

We went to Ala Moana Shopping Center last Thursday. All I can say is, ‘Never Again.’ This was the first time I can remember not being able to eat. Every single restaurant and food court was packed to capacity, tourists were standing everywhere waiting to get in.

This may sound controversial because many of our neighbors depend on Hawaii welcoming back the tourists, but isn’t tourism supposed to be about sharing our land? Not being able to eat is not sharing! 

We (meaning our state) really need to be careful about what we wish for. 

The Bible is full of people who should’ve been more careful about what they wished for as well. Here are just a few. 

Adam and Eve – “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.” Genesis 3:6 NIV

Lot (nephew of Abraham) – “Lot looked around and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan toward Zoar was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. (This was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east. The two men parted company:” Genesis 13:10-11 NIV

King David – “One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” Then David sent messengers to get her.” 2 Samuel 11:2-4 NIV

Jonah – “The word of the Lord came to Jonah son of Amittai: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.” But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.” Jonah 1:1-3 NIV

We make hundreds of decisions every single day. Our free will to choose what we do is one of many gifts from God. A gift we often times take for granted. And like our friends above, a gift we, at times, use unwisely. 

I wonder how many of us have made choices similar to those above? We wished for what is pleasing to our eyes, or would make us look good to others, like knowledge or wisdom or possessions. 

Perhaps we wished for something that would give us sinful pleasure. Or maybe our wishes were like Jonah’s wish – against the wishes of God? We knew what we wished for was wrong but went ahead and chose to do it anyway. Shall we all raise our hands now?

I’m going to sound more like my Baptist school chaplain than a New Hope pastor and share a few scriptures on the dreaded ‘R’ word we haven’t heard in a long time – Repent.

Whether we like it or not, repentance is a vital step in our walk with Jesus. It’s hard to follow someone when we’re going in opposite directions, right?

Easton’s Bible Dictionary says, “Evangelical repentance consists of (1) a true sense of one’s own guilt and sinfulness; (2) an apprehension of God’s mercy in Christ; (3) an actual hatred of sin and turning from it to God; and (4) a persistent endeavor after a holy life in walking with God in the way of his commandments.”

I don’t need to remind us of Jesus’ strong encouragement to repent. For example, as He began His ministry Jesus said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Matthew 4:17 NIV

Or the time He said, “But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” Luke 13:3 NIV

We are fortunate to worship a God who is merciful and kind. Romans 2:4 NASB says, “do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and restraint and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”

God’s mercy and kindness is not something any of us should take for granted or take advantage of.

So, how can we be obedient to our Lord and avoid having to repent? Especially when life is a constant battle against the unrelenting temptations of satan. 

As we learned from the stories above, a good place to start is by being careful about what we wish for.

By keeping our eyes and our hearts fixed on the Lord.

By seeking the assistance of the Holy Spirit to protect us from temptations.

By guarding our hearts from pride and satisfying our passions.

By following His wishes of us.

With that please have a blessed week…and don’t forget to eat first if you’re headed to Ala Moana. 

In love always,