In my Bible reading today, I came across a passage of scripture that I had not heard in sometime and when I read a certain OT professor of mine came racing into the forefront of my memory.

Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity. (Joel 1:13)

Dr James Smith would say this verse with such gusto that it has stuck in my mind ever since. Anyone who has ever had a class with Doc Smith knows how fired up he gets about the OT. This verse says something that we often forget today. God wants us to be broken and contrite and to approach him as such. He does not want us to make an outward display of repentance that only the masses can see. He wants our hearts to be broken and to return to him to mend them. Thank you to Doc Smith for teaching me and many of my former classmates and alumni of Florida Christian College to love the OT and to not be afraid to preach from it.