"Then if my people..."

Who are God's people? 

Friends, if we're confessed followers of Christ, I think we should all be able to find ourselves fitting into many passages of the bible as though God were speaking to us directly at some point in our past, in our present and into our future ... because He has, He is and He will continue to do so until our time finally runs out. His passion for us and His desire to spare us from our own choices that we've made against Him hasn't changed. The bible is many things. Among other things, it's history, law and instruction, but ultimately it's Father God's passionate love letter to us, refining us and guiding us to where He is.

“Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. Your filth will be washed away, and you will no longer worship idols. And I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so that you will follow my decrees and be careful to obey my regulations."

“And you will live in Israel, the land I gave your ancestors long ago. You will be my people, and I will be your God. I will cleanse you of your filthy behavior. I will give you good crops of grain, and I will send no more famines on the land. I will give you great harvests from your fruit trees and fields, and never again will the surrounding nations be able to scoff at your land for its famines. Then you will remember your past sins and despise yourselves for all the detestable things you did. But remember, says the Sovereign LORD, I am not doing this because you deserve it. O my people of Israel, you should be utterly ashamed of all you have done." Ezekiel 36:25-32 (NLT)

Of course that passage is from the Old Testament, but God's continual appeal to us, the heart of His promise and His repeated warnings are the same in spirit throughout the entirety of scripture. It's a recurrent theme of Father God's heart. He appeals to us passionately and repeatedly to hear and obey Him. He offers a wealth of promises more solid than the hardest granite, but also warns us about the consequences of rejecting Him and His commands. The only issue ever in question is always the same one that it's been from the beginning of time ... how will we respond? ...

... ... How have we responded so far?

Under the old covenant agreement that God offered, the children of Israel were given the law as a yardstick of God's standards so that both they, and we in the present could see how we fall short of His perfect holiness and complete righteousness. He didn't do it with a desire to condemn us, but with a desire that we would humble ourselves before Him and recognize our need for redemption - for a Savior. But Father God never intended that we should be lost without hope of redemption to Himself. In fact, it was because of His deep desire for us that He sent His Son to die the death that our failure to His standards warranted, so that if we accepted Jesus' perfect sacrifice in our place, we could be free to worship Him. So how have we truthfully responded?

Jesus speaking:
"But the time is coming—indeed it’s here now—when true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is looking for those who will worship him that way. For God is Spirit, so those who worship him must worship in spirit and in truth.” John 4:23-24 (NLT)

Jesus paid the price to free us from the penalty of our failures against God's standards so we have the opportunity to start over clean and enjoy reconciliation with Father God by accepting Christ's sacrifice in our place. Resurrected, He lives seated at the right hand of the Father and as our advocate, teacher and example, He directs us toward the destination that God intended for us from before time. But once again our own choices to actually follow Him or not determine the truth of the path we're on. Are we truly responding? If we're not, He knows. Whatever we might say and however we may choose to attempt to justify ourselves and our actions, Father God sees clearly and our hearts are an open book to Him. He's called us repeatedly in scripture with a passion to save us and a desire that we allow Him to bless us, but as I'm deeply convicted, no good father rewards his children with blessings for bad behavior - and certainly not The Perfect Father. 

The choice is ours. The unwavering standard is set before us, His sovereign call for submission, repentance and obedience has been made and the sacrifice made available to free us from the ultimate penalty. He's sent out the same call for millennia, appealing with passionate promise...

"Then one night the LORD appeared to Solomon and said, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this Temple as the place for making sacrifices. At times I might shut up the heavens so that no rain falls, or command grasshoppers to devour your crops, or send plagues among you. Then if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land. My eyes will be open and my ears attentive to every prayer made in this place. For I have chosen this Temple and set it apart to be holy—a place where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart.""   2 Chronicles 7:12-16 (NLT) 

... and He's warned about the potential consequences of disobedience with the hope that we choose our response wisely and truly...

“But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the decrees and commands I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, then I will uproot the people from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make it an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations. And though this Temple is impressive now, all who pass by will be appalled. They will ask, ‘Why did the LORD do such terrible things to this land and to this Temple?’   2 Chronicles 7:19-21 (NLT)

In these last days, the New Covenant promise and warning have become more final, consequential and eternal and God's plan for us from the beginning has been revealed. In complete honesty and as He sees clearly, we need to make certain of our true choices because we're choosing every day between the promises of His glory and the total devastation that He's warned us against with a passionate desire for us to be HIS people...

... In complete honesty, ... how are we responding? He knows

"No, O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8 (NLT)