Hosea 10 and Christian Mindfulness

There are two important lessons I believe we can learn from Hosea 10. The first being repentance before destruction and the second being what I like to call Christian Mindfulness. Before we start, let’s look at the text.

Hosea 10:11–15 (ESV)

11 Ephraim was a trained calf that loved to thresh, and I spared her fair neck; but I will put Ephraim to the yoke; Judah must plow; Jacob must harrow for himself.

12 Sow for yourselves righteousness; reap steadfast love; break up your fallow ground, for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

13 You have plowed iniquity; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your own way and in the multitude of your warriors,

14 therefore the tumult of war shall arise among your people, and all your fortresses shall be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beth-arbel on the day of battle; mothers were dashed in pieces with their children.

15 Thus it shall be done to you, O Bethel, because of your great evil. At dawn the king of Israel shall be utterly cut off.

The Principle: You Will Reap What You Sow.

Now, from what we read here, it is quite obvious that things are about to become really bad for Isreal. But why? How did they get to this point? Can it be negated? Without getting into too much of what has previously happened, let’s focus on a principle. This principle has been stated and shown throughout the Bible, and it is also a fairly easy concept to understand. Now, in Hosea 10, it is actually stated quite clearly. God is exhorting Isreal to sow righteousness, in order to reap kindness. Now to have a better understanding of what He is talking about, let me give you a very brief backstory. Isreal has broken a covenant with God, and now they are on the verge of impending doom. Now you see that God is telling them to sow righteousness, meaning that they need to be a righteous people and righteously honor/restore their covenant with God, or they will not be shown Gods kindness. Pretty simple. This also answers the following questions: Why they need to repent, and how they got to this point.

Impending Doom and an Exhortation to Repent

…for it is the time to seek the LORD, that he may come and rain righteousness upon you.

The verse above is Gods exhortation to the people of Isreal. Essentially, he is telling them that this is the 11th hour, and now is the time to repent. This is their final chance. If it were to be paraphrased I assume it would sound something like this: “Repent right now, if you don’t, I will not hold back my punishment. I will not show you righteousness. You chose.” These people were given a warning, nay, a simple task. All they had to do was repent of their sins against God to avoid an oncoming destruction, a pretty horrifying one at that (see verse 14). There was no faithfulness. There was no loyalty-love. And there was no knowledge or acknowledgement of God in the land. It was a lawsuit against Isreal, and God was the judge. But because God does not desire the death and ruin of sinners, therefore in mercy he desires their chastisement.

Now is the Time to Repent

So, what can we learn from this? I believe it is quite simple; we must repent now to negate the looming destruction. Now this can be interpreted many ways: personally, nationally, as a church, etc… But let’s focus on this personally, and to do that it requires a lot of honesty, namely with yourself. I say this because no one really knows what other people have going on in their life, but one thing we all do know is that we all sin, so it is probably safe to assume we all have some sort of sin in our life. whether it be a large or small amount, we all have it.

So, now is the time to repent. We must repent before our destruction. Destruction can take many forms; however, the lesson we learn from this is if we continue in sin without repentance, we will see destruction. You might ask what form of destruction? Honestly, I’m not sure. I think that is something only you will really know; however, I think it is a guarantee.

The Solution: Christian Mindfulness

The solution to avoid letting our lives get to this “11th hour” to begin with is quite simple. I call it Christian Mindfulness. Now the definition of mindfulness is as follows: the practice of being aware moment-to-moment. So, Christian Mindfulness follows a pretty simple concept which is outlined by the principle “you will reap what you sow”. To have Christian Mindfulness you must constantly be aware of what you are sowing. Are you sowing things of righteousness or unrighteousness? If we strengthen this ability it really helps with sanctification. When we are consciously aware of what we are sowing, we won’t have to worry about mindlessly walking into our 11th hour. We will know exactly why we are where we are, and I think that that knowledge is priceless.

Now I am not saying that we will be perfect. We will mess up, that is just the way we are. We are fallen, depraved, image bearers of God that need a savior. But being mindful allows us to keep our “sin list” short, and in return, will most likely make us more consistent Christians.

Endnote

If we sow in righteousness, we shall reap according to mercy; a reward not of debt, but of grace. Even the gains of sin yield the sinner no satisfaction. As our comforts, so our confidences in the service of sin will certainly fail us. Come and seek the Lord, and thy hope in him shall not deceive thee. See what cruel work war makes. Whatever mischief is done, it is sin that does it. What miseries men’s sins bring on them, even in this world! — Matthew Henry