Luke 3 records when John the Baptist begins preaching repentance and preparing the way to Christ. The people begin asking the right question:
10 “What should we do then?” the crowd asked. (NIV)
John's response addresses several issues going on at the time, notably most of them had to do with abuse of power:
11 John answered, “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.”
12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized. “Teacher,” they asked, “what should we do?”
13 “Don’t collect any more than you are required to,” he told them.
14 Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?”
He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.”(Lk 3:11-14, NIV)
It's a lengthy response that can be summed up with one line, "Stop breaking the Law"..... I stole that line from a movie. You ever seen Liar, Liar starring Jim Carrey? The plot is essentially this: Jim Carrey is a lawyer that his son get's tired of Him not telling the truth, so on the son's birthday party before he blows out the candles he makes a wish that His dad HAS to tell the truth for one whole day. For one whole day, Jim Carrey is incapable of telling a lie. Well there is a scene where a repeat offender calls because he is in jail again, Jim Carrey pick up the phone and yells "STOP BREAKING THE LAW".....
Abuse of power is a common thing (unfortunately) and in John's time it was no different than now. The people where feeling guilty for what they had done and posed the question: What do we do about it? John tells them not only to "stop breaking the law" but also they need to right the wrongs in their life.
one of the hardest things you and i will ever have to do is not only to say I'm sorry to those we have wronged but also to try and right that wrong. One of the most liberating things i have ever done was when i picked up the phone and called someone that i knew i had wronged, and apologized. I have since tried to right most of the wrongs i have done, some have been successful some have not. However, i have the peace inside of actually doing something about it, after i had posed the question, "What shall i do?"
Right the wrongs in your life, it will make you feel better and God smiles upon it.
blessings on your day, Chris
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