When God Confronts Your Bad - Repent

That squirrel must have done something, something bad, at least in the eyes of the two woodpeckers giving it the beating of his life. I don’t know why I’m assuming that gray squirrel was a male, girls get into trouble too, don’t they? Those woodpeckers pecked, dive bombed, sat on the squirrels back and wacked it with their beaks. Now I imagine a woodpecker beak is as tough as steel. I am sure if you’d ask that squirrel she would totally agree. Finally after about fifty yards the squirrel made it to the side of the road and disappeared down an embankment. I thought about throwing out a few aspirin in that direction, because I was sure that was going to be one sore little arboreal rodent. I was also glad to be in a car in case those acorn woodpeckers were going to unleash their fury on me.I am curious what that squirrel did to reap the wrath of those birds? And what is it going to do in the future? My guess is that it will not do “that” again. But it might go the opposite route, like we often do, and decide to invest a helmet and some body armor (but if I write a pastor’s note claiming to have seen a squirrel donning a helmet and armor then you might want to stop reading them).What when our conscience fails us, when we do bad and nothing is pecking away on us? What if we have developed armor, calluses that allow us to continue in our wrong without anymore sense of guilt?I don’t speak squirrel, and they do speak (you should hear all their yakking in our back yard trees), but I could bet I heard, “I’m sorry guys. Really, I am really, really sorry. I am so sorry you can stop now. Please. Pretty please. I really mean it please!” But I think its sincerity was questionable. I think it was just sorry enough to get out of the presently administered pecking. It probably cussed those #@%@## birds out the very next day, albeit from the safety of a distant tree.What if God is pecking on you? What if God is trying to prick your conscience? I am grateful God doesn’t unleash steel beaked woodpeckers whenever I transgress, whenever I trespass into bad behavior, bad attitude, bad thinking, bad motives, or bad words (bad words usually accompany anything bad, but not just in the form of cuss words).In the second chapter of Acts the Bible records people’s response to Peter preaching the word of God, the gospel. They were “pierced in the hearts,” their conscience was wounded. In fact the Greek word “katanusso,” according to the NASB dictionary means to “prick violently,” like two wood peckers on a squirrel. Feeling as they did they asked, “What should we do?”“Repent, deal with your sins, and identify yourself, your life with Jesus Christ,” was Peter’s reply. Many did just that, and many went and bought helmets, put some calluses on their consciences and hearts. But it really doesn’t matter what they did or didn’t do. What are you going to do when God confronts your bad?To God be all glory, love you, Pastor Hans