Return, Repent, and Love

 

Return, Repent, and Love

Hosea 14:1–5

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

for your sins have brought you down.

Bring your confessions, and return to the Lord.

Say to him,

“Forgive all our sins and graciously receive us,

so that we may offer you our praises.

Assyria cannot save us,

nor can our warhorses.

Never again will we say to the idols we have made,

‘You are our gods.’

No, in you alone

do the orphans find mercy.”

The Lord says,

“Then I will heal you of your faithlessness;

my love will know no bounds,

for my anger will be gone forever.

I will be to Israel like a refreshing dew from heaven.

Israel will blossom like the lily;

it will send roots deep into the soil

like the cedars in Lebanon.”

Matthew 4:17

From then on Jesus began to preach,

“Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

Mark 12:28–34

One of the teachers of religious law was standing there listening to the debate. He realized that Jesus had answered well, so he asked, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

Jesus replied, “The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ No other commandment is greater than these.”

The teacher of religious law replied, “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth by saying that there is only one God and no other. And I know it is important to love him with all my heart and all my understanding and all my strength, and to love my neighbor as myself. This is more important than to offer all of the burnt offerings and sacrifices required in the law.”

Realizing how much the man understood, Jesus said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions.

Devotion

The Diagnosis: “You have collapsed through your guilt.”

The Hebrew word for collapsed or stumbled (kashal) implies a loss of strength. Hosea is pointing out a profound truth: sin isn’t just a legal wrong—it is exhausting.

Trying to be our own gods, relying on “Assyria” (foreign powers or politics) or “warhorses” (our own strength, plans, and technology), eventually causes us to buckle under the weight of it all.

Where in your life do you feel collapsed?

Lent invites us to admit that our self-reliance has actually made us weaker, not stronger.

The Cure: “I will heal their faithlessness.”

Notice the order in Hosea.

God does not say, “Fix your defection and then I will love you.”

He says, “I will heal… I will love.”

God’s love comes first. Healing follows.

Then comes one of the most beautiful metaphors in Scripture.

God says He will be like dew to Israel.

In the dry Middle Eastern climate, dew was a quiet but essential source of life. It appeared silently during the dark hours of the night and nourished the land when rain was scarce.

In the same way, God restores us gently, faithfully, and steadily.

When Jesus says in Matthew, “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near,” He is offering that dew.

He is saying:

Stop searching for water in the desert.

The source of life is right here.

Turn toward Me.

The Destination: Love

When the scribe asks Jesus which commandment is the greatest, Jesus ties two together:

Love God.

Love your neighbor.

These two are inseparable.

Loving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength is the root—like the deep cedar roots described in Hosea.

Loving your neighbor is the blossom and fragrance that grows from that root.

You cannot truly love others if you are spiritually collapsed and disconnected from God.

And if we claim to love God but refuse to love others, then our roots are not really drinking from His life-giving dew.

The Takeaway

Jesus tells the scribe something both hopeful and haunting:

“You are not far from the Kingdom of God.”

He understood the truth.

But Jesus was inviting him to step into it.

Lent is the bridge between knowing and living.

Between understanding love and actually practicing it.

Last night I had a very beautiful and uplifting conversation with our youngest son.

He sent me a photo of a pot of chicken meat simmering in broth and told me how he had cooked it down and picked all the meat off to make soup.

I told him I had just cooked a turkey and had his niece and her family over for a little mini-Thanksgiving. Afterward I cleaned the whole carcass and made turkey pies filled with vegetables and turkey.

Then I told him I donated two of those pies to our Bread of Life program, which brings home-cooked meals to the sick, the elderly, and families who have just lost a loved one.

Our very kind son said, “I was actually thinking about taking a bowl to my neighbor.”

I explained how sometimes God places something on our hearts for a purpose.

A little later I received another message:

“I did it, Mom. I took him a big bowl of soup and a couple biscuits.”

He said, “What a huge smile I got!”

The man was so happy to visit for a few minutes and to receive a home-cooked meal.

My heart was full.

I told my son my philosophy:

Love like Jesus.

Do all the good you can in this world to help counteract the harm Satan spreads.

And I always think of something Edgar Allan Poe once wrote:

“I remained too much inside my head and ended up losing my mind.”

Life is tough. If we center ourselves only on ourselves, we miss the joy that comes when our minds and hearts are freed from our daily worries.

And others miss out on the good we could have done.

Love God deeply.

Let His grace restore you.

Then go love someone else.

Amen.

Prayer

Heavenly Father,

Thank You for calling us back when we wander.

When we collapse under the weight of our own mistakes, You do not abandon us—you offer healing.

Lord, help us to return to You with humble hearts.

Wash away our pride and self-reliance, and refresh our souls like the morning dew upon dry ground.

Root us deeply in Your love so that our lives may blossom with kindness, compassion, and generosity toward others.

Teach us to love You with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbors the way You love us.

Let our lives reflect Your goodness in a world that desperately needs it.

In Jesus’ precious name we pray.

Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father, who art in heaven,

hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done

on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our trespasses,

as we forgive those who trespass against us.

And lead us not into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom,

and the power,

and the glory,

forever and ever.

Amen.

BELIEVE, OBEY, BE BLESSED, AMEN.

BOBBA

Love, Penny 💛