Hey, it's time for encouragement from Our Daily Bread. The reading for today titled,

A Repentent Heart, was written by Matt Lucas. A friend had violated the vows of his marriage.

It was painful to watch him destroy his family.

As he sought reconciliation with his wife, he asked my counsel. I told him he needed to offer

more than words. He needed to be proactive in loving his wife and removing any patterns of sin. The prophet Jeremiah offered similar

advice to those who'd broken their covenant with God and followed other gods. It wasn't enough

to return to him, though that was the right start. They also needed to align their actions with what they

were saying. That meant getting rid of their detestable idols. Jeremiah said that if they made

commitments in a truthful, just, and righteous way, then God would bless the nations. The problem was the people were making

empty promises. Their heart wasn't in it. God doesn't want mere words. He wants our hearts.

As Jesus said in Matthew 12, the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

That's why Jeremiah goes on to encourage those who would listen to break up the unplowed ground

of their heart, and not so among the thorns.

Sadly, like so many people, my friend didn't heed sound biblical counsel and

consequently lost his marriage. When we sin, we must confess and turn from it. God doesn't

want empty promises. He desires a life that's truly aligned with him.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Jeremiah chapter 4, verses 1 through 4.

If you Israel will return, then return to me, declares the Lord.

If you put your detestable idols out of my sight and no longer go astray,

and if in a truthful, just, and righteous way you swear, as surely as the Lord lives, then the nations will invoke blessings

by Him, and in Him they will boast. This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and to Jerusalem.

Break up your unplowed ground, and do not sow among thorns.

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