Our scripture today is Hosea 10:12 (ESV).
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.
Even as Hosea warns the people of God’s judgement, there is a call to repentance and reconciliation with the Lord. He tells us to prepare our hearts the way a field is prepared for planting. By using examples they would understand, the prophet urges them to change, that they may be fruitful. Jesus uses the same kind of example when He tells us “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). God has reached out to us in love and asks us to receive it so that it may grow in us.
Loving Lord, we are ashamed of the ways we have wasted Your good gifts. Help us to be fruitful disciples, sharing Your love with the world. Amen.
