More Repentance
I wanted to add that since I wrote about repentance being "to change one'e mind and purpose- turn from our purpose and towards God's purposes" I came across this definition from David Wilkerson (of the Cross and the Switchblade fame)
"The full, literal meaning of the word "repent" in the New Testament is "to feel remorse and self-reproach for one's sins against God; to be contrite, sorry; to want to change direction. The difference in meanings here rests on the word "Want." True repentance includes a desire to change!
That just seemed a more complete definition.
I have also been thinking about how as you experience holiness and grow in grace you have to take sin more seriously.
My sin today seems to be much blacker and Christ's life much whiter. The more I know him the more I hate sin and realise that it is much more ugly and vile than I had ever imagined it to be. It is not that I need to go back and feel condemned again about what Jesus has forgiven. It is not that I feel guilty again about it again but that my eyes have been opened. My sin has grown in size but so has the wonder of my salvation.
Spurgeon testified, "I freely confess that I have a very much greater sorrow for sin today than I had when I came to the Saviour more than thirty years ago. I hate sin more intensely now than I did when I was under conviction. There are some things that I did not know to be sin then, that I know to be sin now. I have a much keener sense of the vileness of my own heart now than when I first came to Christ...
This realisation does not lead to a sense of desperation but the more I see the enormity of my sin and the cost of my salvation the deeper my love for Christ becomes. When the woman who had lived a sinful life anointed Jesus' feet with perfume and tears was criticised by Simon the Pharisee,Jesus pointed out that she the bigger the cancelled debt, the bigger the love for the one who redeemed it.
This is why to feel our sins deeply is a blessing. It leads to deeper love and passion for Christ. As I love Christ more deeply I take all sin seriously, my sorrow for it is not just about how it affects me but how it disappoints my Lord and my desire to change intensifies. I cannot live in peace with sin and compromise.
It's all part of a repentant lifestyle.
I wanted to add that since I wrote about repentance being "to change one'e mind and purpose- turn from our purpose and towards God's purposes" I came across this definition from David Wilkerson (of the Cross and the Switchblade fame)
"The full, literal meaning of the word "repent" in the New Testament is "to feel remorse and self-reproach for one's sins against God; to be contrite, sorry; to want to change direction. The difference in meanings here rests on the word "Want." True repentance includes a desire to change!
That just seemed a more complete definition.
I have also been thinking about how as you experience holiness and grow in grace you have to take sin more seriously.
My sin today seems to be much blacker and Christ's life much whiter. The more I know him the more I hate sin and realise that it is much more ugly and vile than I had ever imagined it to be. It is not that I need to go back and feel condemned again about what Jesus has forgiven. It is not that I feel guilty again about it again but that my eyes have been opened. My sin has grown in size but so has the wonder of my salvation.
Spurgeon testified, "I freely confess that I have a very much greater sorrow for sin today than I had when I came to the Saviour more than thirty years ago. I hate sin more intensely now than I did when I was under conviction. There are some things that I did not know to be sin then, that I know to be sin now. I have a much keener sense of the vileness of my own heart now than when I first came to Christ...
This realisation does not lead to a sense of desperation but the more I see the enormity of my sin and the cost of my salvation the deeper my love for Christ becomes. When the woman who had lived a sinful life anointed Jesus' feet with perfume and tears was criticised by Simon the Pharisee,Jesus pointed out that she the bigger the cancelled debt, the bigger the love for the one who redeemed it.
This is why to feel our sins deeply is a blessing. It leads to deeper love and passion for Christ. As I love Christ more deeply I take all sin seriously, my sorrow for it is not just about how it affects me but how it disappoints my Lord and my desire to change intensifies. I cannot live in peace with sin and compromise.
It's all part of a repentant lifestyle.
posted by Rehoboth at
9:23 AM
1 Comments:
Carol - sorry this comment is not related to the post. Just wanted to say I'm the person who said hello at the Roots Registration Desk.
Have posted my Roots highlights at my place.
By
Heather's place, at 5:23 AM
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