Are You Responsive to Jesus Christ?

In his semi-annual letter, Dr. Meredith offered Tomorrow's World subscribers a special free DVD titled "Escape the Great Tribulation"—a compilation of three of our most powerful Tomorrow's World telecasts. If you have not already returned the response card that came with the letter, I urge you to do so right now. Be responsive to what Jesus Christ is doing through His Church and His Work today!

Look to Your Savior!

On whom do you rely for guidance in your life? Your Bible gives us inspiring promises you need to claim and trust. Jesus gave us this encouraging promise: "I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:20). And God Almighty gives us this promise in Hebrews 13:5, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

Of course, our Father in heaven wants us to be responsive to Jesus Christ, our Savior, in every way. And what did Christ ask of us, His followers? He said: "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man" (Luke 21:36). Watching the evil and confusion that is so widespread in the world around us, some may be given to depression, despair and discouragement. Humanly it seems as though there is no solution to the age-old problems of war, greed and human nature. But we as Christians know that the real answer is not human in nature! Only the return of Jesus Christ, the coming King who will establish the Kingdom of God right here on planet Earth, will save human beings from total cosmocide. Because we have that hope as Christians, we can avoid discouragement. God has given us hope, encouragement and practical ways to stay focused on our Christian responsibilities. Read my article, "Seven Keys for Peace of Mind" on page 10 of this issue to learn more.

Truly, for those who are not responsive to Jesus Christ, our present world is descending further and further into outright evil, with the widespread conscious rejection of all that was once held as sacred by those who profess Christ. Our Editor in Chief, Dr. Roderick C. Meredith, has written a powerful article outlining the ways Satan is trying to lead this world astray. Read his informative article, "Satan's Alternative Universe," on page 5 of this magazine—and you will gain further understanding of just how vital it is that we resist Satan and remain responsive to Jesus Christ.

Remember, my friends, that "responsiveness" is a "two-way street." As we respond to our Savior, He promises to respond to us. Christ is our High Priest, eager to intercede on our behalf with His Father (Hebrew 7:25). One way in which God responds to His servants' prayers is by healing. Of course, in the ultimate sense all Christians will be "healed" when they are born into the Family of God as immortalized Spirit-beings. Yet we also know that God is fully able to heal us today, in our human bodies, according to His will. The very act of taking the Passover bread, each year, reminds us that our Savior's body was broken as a sacrifice, that He is the one "by whose stripes you were healed" (1 Peter 2:24; see Isaiah 53:5).

Do you need healing? Do you understand how and why God heals? Tomorrow's World writer Rod McNair has written a powerful article, "Why Does God Heal?" on page 19 of this issue. Read this encouraging article and you should gain a greater appreciation than ever before of the wonderful gift of divine healing.

Repentance and Obedience

When we are healed, we are free of some physical ailment that was troubling us. But if we go right back to our old ways that caused that ailment in the first place, what good would healing be? God wants us to respond to Him by repenting—by turning away from our old, sinful ways.

Just what is repentance? The Greek word translated "repent" is metanoeo, which means to "think differently." One must repent of—think differently about—one's sin. But what is sin? "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness" (1 John 3:4). The King James Version puts it plainly—"sin is the transgression of the law." When you transgress one of the Ten Commandments, you have sinned. As the Apostle James wrote: "For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not murder.' Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty" (James 2:10–12).

When we repent of sin, we are deeply sorry for having transgressed God's law. We no longer have a hostile attitude toward God and His law of liberty. We no longer have a carnal attitude that is enmity against the law of God (cf. Romans 8:7). After repentance, we want to be in harmony with God's law of love—the Ten Commandments. Repentance brings a deep change in our thinking, and a responsiveness to every word of God. As Jesus said: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God" (Luke 4:4).

True repentance is not at all like the worldly sorrow that we often see in those who are caught in their crimes or sins. The sorrow at "getting caught" is not the repentant sorrow that comes from realizing one's need to change and go the other way. "For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death" (2 Corinthians 7:10).

Notice the characteristics of godly sorrow: "For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter" (2 Corinthians 7:11).

If you are responsive to Jesus Christ—if you are sincerely striving to live by every word of God, and to bear the fruits of the Spirit in your life—you will have that godly repentance whenever you realize you are guilty of sin. Christians were saved from past sins by the blood of Christ; we are now being saved (2 Corinthians 2:15), and we "shall be saved by His life" (Romans 5:10).

My friends, I pray that you will be responsive to Jesus Christ, the world's coming King of kings and Lord of lords, in all that you think, say and do!