Returning to Repentance
We tend to see repentance as what we do when we initially come to Christ and on those occasions when we mess up big time. We can see repentance as a sporadic thing. However I am seeing more and more that it is a lifestyle, that I need what David called a “broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51)Repentance isn't just for unconverted sinners.
We do of course need to be clear about what we mean by repentance. It is not just feeling remorseful. Judas was remorseful over his betrayal and it led him to suicide.
Many are confused and think repentance is a negative thing because they think it is about abstaining from anything enjoyable in life, continually hanging your head in shame and having a negative self image. Legalists who preach a religion based on keeping rules, acceptance through works and serving your penance perpetuate this idea. True repentance however comes from the Greek word 'Metanoia', which means to change one's mind and purpose - to turn from our purpose and toward God's purposes.
Some would say if repentance is recognizing you have been going in a wrong direction, coming to God in contrition and then turning around and following Jesus, then to live in repentance all the time you must be going round in circles!
I think that I might agree if I didn’t also believe that God can deal decisively with sin and we can live in victory.
I lived for years with a stronghold of fear and a consequent management strategy of trying to control everything. I repeatedly repented of it but also repeatedly fell back into it again. I did go round in a circle of repentance, claiming forgiveness, falling again, repenting, claiming forgiveness falling again, repenting and so on until the Holy Spirit broke in and dealt with the causes at the root of it all and helped me separate truth from lies. I’m not saying that I am never fearful but I am free from the paralyzing fear that dominated my life for years. I don’t have to constantly repent of the habitual sins that went along with the fear because I have been set free. To say that we need to live in repentance does not I believe undermine the truth that full salvation frees us from the bondage of sin.
Neither do I think that it is a morbid, paranoid introspection of our life before God. I have fallen into that one in my time too. I have prayed for revival in my Corps and for people for ten minutes and then spend the next half and hour questioning whether I prayed for them because I really cared about them or because I wanted my corps to grow so that I would not be a failure. That kind of thing is not repentance at all but being self-absorbed. Repentance isn’t me doing amateur spiritual endoscopies on my soul.
So what is it then? I believe that it is a heart and life turned towards Christ, despite the pressure of the world, the flesh and the devil to turn back or take our eyes off him.
Hebrews 12:1-3 seems to me to be the picture of a Christian with a repentant heart and lifestyle. It is a picture of someone who will consciously throw off sin. The writer to the Hebrews says sin so easily entangles us. The person with a repentant heart recognizes their human frailty so it needs to be thrown off. It is someone who is committed to running the race and submitted to the race God sets for them rather than their own way. I leave my ways to follow His ways. The person with a repentant heart daily checks that the race they are running is the one God has marked out for them. When we turn away from our sins, we don’t just turn toward a code of conduct we turn our eyes upon Jesus.
People with repentant hearts know that they are only in the race because of the sacrifice, grace and mercy of God and not because of any merit of their own. They know they have no ability of their own to run well or even stay the course.
It is the Holy Spirit’s presence who acts like an inward coach, warning us of the things ahead or around us that might entangle us or distract our eyes from the goal. A repentant heart is one that constantly listens to his inward voice, seeks his advice and leans upon his encouragement to keep going. It is his powerful presence in our lives that creates the longing to run well in order to bring the Lord honour.
More tomorrow
Carol
We tend to see repentance as what we do when we initially come to Christ and on those occasions when we mess up big time. We can see repentance as a sporadic thing. However I am seeing more and more that it is a lifestyle, that I need what David called a “broken and contrite heart” (Psalm 51)Repentance isn't just for unconverted sinners.
We do of course need to be clear about what we mean by repentance. It is not just feeling remorseful. Judas was remorseful over his betrayal and it led him to suicide.
Many are confused and think repentance is a negative thing because they think it is about abstaining from anything enjoyable in life, continually hanging your head in shame and having a negative self image. Legalists who preach a religion based on keeping rules, acceptance through works and serving your penance perpetuate this idea. True repentance however comes from the Greek word 'Metanoia', which means to change one's mind and purpose - to turn from our purpose and toward God's purposes.
Some would say if repentance is recognizing you have been going in a wrong direction, coming to God in contrition and then turning around and following Jesus, then to live in repentance all the time you must be going round in circles!
I think that I might agree if I didn’t also believe that God can deal decisively with sin and we can live in victory.
I lived for years with a stronghold of fear and a consequent management strategy of trying to control everything. I repeatedly repented of it but also repeatedly fell back into it again. I did go round in a circle of repentance, claiming forgiveness, falling again, repenting, claiming forgiveness falling again, repenting and so on until the Holy Spirit broke in and dealt with the causes at the root of it all and helped me separate truth from lies. I’m not saying that I am never fearful but I am free from the paralyzing fear that dominated my life for years. I don’t have to constantly repent of the habitual sins that went along with the fear because I have been set free. To say that we need to live in repentance does not I believe undermine the truth that full salvation frees us from the bondage of sin.
Neither do I think that it is a morbid, paranoid introspection of our life before God. I have fallen into that one in my time too. I have prayed for revival in my Corps and for people for ten minutes and then spend the next half and hour questioning whether I prayed for them because I really cared about them or because I wanted my corps to grow so that I would not be a failure. That kind of thing is not repentance at all but being self-absorbed. Repentance isn’t me doing amateur spiritual endoscopies on my soul.
So what is it then? I believe that it is a heart and life turned towards Christ, despite the pressure of the world, the flesh and the devil to turn back or take our eyes off him.
Hebrews 12:1-3 seems to me to be the picture of a Christian with a repentant heart and lifestyle. It is a picture of someone who will consciously throw off sin. The writer to the Hebrews says sin so easily entangles us. The person with a repentant heart recognizes their human frailty so it needs to be thrown off. It is someone who is committed to running the race and submitted to the race God sets for them rather than their own way. I leave my ways to follow His ways. The person with a repentant heart daily checks that the race they are running is the one God has marked out for them. When we turn away from our sins, we don’t just turn toward a code of conduct we turn our eyes upon Jesus.
People with repentant hearts know that they are only in the race because of the sacrifice, grace and mercy of God and not because of any merit of their own. They know they have no ability of their own to run well or even stay the course.
It is the Holy Spirit’s presence who acts like an inward coach, warning us of the things ahead or around us that might entangle us or distract our eyes from the goal. A repentant heart is one that constantly listens to his inward voice, seeks his advice and leans upon his encouragement to keep going. It is his powerful presence in our lives that creates the longing to run well in order to bring the Lord honour.
More tomorrow
Carol
posted by Rehoboth at
1:52 PM
1 Comments:
Salvation is always the ending of the minds fascinated identification with the dead and unchanging image of what it was. It is the complete reversal of the
"natural" order of things a METANOIA - the Greek word for repentance, meaning precisely a turning around of the mind, so that it no longer faces into the past, the land of the shadow of death, but into the Eternal Present.
So long as the mind is captivated by memory, and really feels itself to be that past image which is "I" it can do nothing to save itself; it's sacrifices are of no avail, and it's Law gives no life.
After years of therapy, I had a metamorphosis - I asked Jesus to have mercy on me & forgive me my sins. He delivered me from my inequities. Praise the Lord!!
Peace Be With You
Patrick
By
Patrick, at 10:19 AM
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