Luke 1:16-17 “Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous–to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

Here we have John the Baptist’s commission, delivered before he was even conceived. Not only is it a magnificent commission, it is also a clear demonstration that no embryo, or even blastocyst (which applies to when the fertilized egg first starts dividing) is without value or meaning in God’s sight. The whole idea of aborting a baby because it is “just a clump of cells” is not just a lie, it’s blasphemy against our Creator. I think the devil probably delights in blasphemy more than in anything else, just because of who and what he is. We can’t change that, but we can be on our guard and refuse and reject blasphemy in all its forms. To get back to John himself, his commission was to prepare the people for Jesus, and he was to do that by “turning the hearts of the father to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous.” That sound very timely for society as we experience it right now! For quite a few years we have been in a “fatherhood crisis,” with men not knowing how to be men, much less fathers, and being put down at every turn by militant, deceived women. That is a major characteristic of the Left, because they start with denying the Fatherhood of God. That makes it obvious who’s guiding them! It is well known that John’s ministry was calling people to repentance, but we tend to relegate that term to specific sins, when this passage indicates it’s more a matter of heart attitude. No human father, for example, is perfect, but if their heart is turned toward their children, they will do a far better job than otherwise. Likewise, disobedience starts with heart attitude, before it ever blossoms into specific actions. It’s not that God doesn’t care about our actions, but He knows they come from our heart, so that’s where the emphasis lies.

I have certainly experienced this, more times than I could count! I still stumble at times, but at this point my heart’s desire is to be fully obedient to my Lord. The “major sins” of my life have all come from an attitude of pride, of thinking and feeling that I was in control, and that whatever felt good to me was right. Such foolishness! I am deeply grateful that my parents taught and modeled the attitude of placing God first and listening to Him, before and above any other voice. I can’t say I have followed that perfectly by any means, but it is still the goal of my life.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I pray that I too would be useful to you in “turn[ing] the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous,” for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!