Preparing the Way

And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.

Mark 1:4-5

Baptism is inherently an act of repentance. When a person gets baptized they are saying, “I have dirtied and defiled myself with sin and I need to be washed clean.” This is one reason why an infant cannot be baptized strictly speaking. An infant has neither sinned consciously nor can it repent consciously. And Baptism, from its earliest days, was a public act of repentance.

Now think about this. The way John the Baptist prepared people for this new work of God, for the coming of the Messiah, was by calling them to confess their sins and repent. John the Baptist taught that confession and repentance were the necessary preparation for God to begin a new work in their lives. It's the same for us. If God is going to use you, if He is going to do anything great in your life, then it will begin with confession and repentance.

If a farmer tried to plant new seeds on hard unbroken soil, He wouldn’t get much of a crop would he? No! He has to break up the hard soil before it is ready to receive new seed. In the same way, if you keep planting the seeds of a fresh start with God in your life but it never works. It may be that you don’t reap a harvest because you haven’t broken up the soil of your heart with confession and repentance. If you want God to do something new in your life, start by breaking up the hard soil of your heart. Confess your sins and repent of them. Then you will be ready to receive whatever new thing God wants to plant in your life.