Heartfelt Repentance

Ein Gev – Our lodgings on the Sea of Galilee

Mount Arbel – Israel I dangled my feet over the edge. It was fun!

Hey everybody! It’s a beautiful day here in Woodford, snow and all! I’ve come to decide that I actually quite like the snow. It’s definitely much better than a cold, cold rain and mud everywhere. Actually, it’s quite the winter wonderland here right now. You know that moment when you wish you had done something, but now it’s too late. I just experienced that right now. I totally should have taken a picture of the beautiful scenery outside and posted it along with my Israel pictures. Oh well… I’m sure there will be PLENTY of more opportunities. Winter here is like that guest that comes to your house that you really want to leave. But, they hang around and hang around and hang around. Finally, they exit your house and you breathe a sigh of relief. However, before you know it, they come back because they just can’t get enough of you. You, meanwhile, are annoyed. “When is this ever going to end?” you cry out. Then, all of a sudden, when you think you can’t take it a second more, they’re gone until the next time. That’s winter here in Woodford. 😉 By the way, just for clarification, I wasn’t thinking of anybody in particular with that story. In all honesty, I have great family and friends that I love to spend time with… most of the time. Of course, there are times when I just want to… No, I’m kidding. 😉 I even kind of like winter. Especially here at Word of Life, it’s exciting! Maybe I’ll get into that another time for all of you out there that love Recharge!

So, Christmas is coming up pretty soon. I just realized that I have 3 possible Word of Life Christmas parties I could attend, a Christmas banquet, as well as family Christmas parties. It’s going to be a busy, but fun season! One thing I’m involved with this year with Word of Life staff is Secret Santa. I just picked my person this week! Want to know who it is??? It is… Yeah right! Good try, but I’m not telling! After all, it’s a secret! Shame on you for trying to get me to tell you. What? You say you didn’t? You say I offered to tell you? You’re smart and you’re right! Can I trust you to keep a secret? I can? Wow! All right, I’ll tell you. Promise not to tell anyone? You do? Good! My person is… psst………. There! I just whispered my person to you. Now you know! Remember, don’t tell anybody!

Heartfelt Repentance

The past few weeks, I’ve been doing a Christian book study with some of the guys. It is a book called, “Seeking Him”. It basically lays out the steps to reviving your relationship with God. A couple of the topics studied so far have been Humility and Honesty. It has been a very convicting book, but it is also a book I am very glad I am doing. It just reiterates how much I need God and how far I have yet to go even as God is constantly growing and changing me. The more I learn, the more I realize how devastating my sin is in relation to a perfect and holy God. I realize just how many areas of my life still need work. However, I also realize how amazing is the grace of God! Because of His amazing love and grace toward me, I want to change. I want to become more and more like Christ. Even in my sin, He gave Himself completely for me and died on the cross for my sin and the sin of the world. Through accepting this free gift and believing in Him, there is eternal life with God. It’s incredible, but it’s true! Based on this truth, like I said, I want to change. This is where the topic for this week comes in. In the book study I mentioned above, we are going through a chapter titled, “Repentance”. I’ve heard that repentance can be thought of in a number of ways. The word repent can simply mean to change something. It can also mean a change of mind or a change of heart. Perhaps we could be talking about a 180 degree change in direction. Regardless, one thing I would like to suggest is that every single person on this planet needs to repent, and not just once, but often. If you think that you don’t need to repent of anything, that you are good just the way you are, there is a problem. The truth is that every person has committed sin and has a sin problem in their life. None of us is perfect. Therefore, all of us need to change, to repent. We can’t attain perfection in this life, but we can and need to grow and change to become more like Christ. If this is true, why do some people resist repentance. I am sure there are many reasons, but I would like to list just a few of them.

A. Repentance isn’t easy. 

Change can be very difficult, especially if people have built up certain habits. As humans, we often want the easy way out. We don’t want anything to be difficult. When things become hard, we might quit or give up. Circumstances and life situations may further complicate this matter.

B. “I don’t want to change!”

Sometimes people like their habits. Sometimes people like their routines. Sometimes people like their sin. They know on the inside that they should change, but they resist perhaps because of fear of changing things up. Or, again, maybe they just enjoy their sin.

C. Pride

Surprise, surprise! This might be the most dangerous reason of all. Pride is a killer. God hates pride. It keeps people from recognizing their need for Him. It also keeps people from change. The thought may be, “I’m just fine the way I am. Why would I change anything?”

I want to encourage you to look over this list or consider in your own heart whether you may be resisting God’s call to repentance in your life. If so, what is keeping you from repentance? It’s between you and God.

For the remainder of this post, I just want to touch on the heart in relation to repentance. I also want to mention some benefits of repentance. I have titled this post, “Heartfelt Repentance.” There is a reason. Outward repentance on its own is not enough. We can change our outward appearance, make ourselves look good to others, and be doing all of this for the wrong reasons. Consider these verses in which Jesus is talking to the Pharisees. 

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness”. – Matthew 23:27-28

It kind of stops and makes you think, doesn’t it? It should. I know personally, in my own life, there have been many times where I have tried to look good and impress people on the outside. However, my heart was not in the right place. We need both outward and inward repentance. The way we act on the outside should flow from the heart change happening on the inside. We should be changing and producing fruit on the outside that directly correlates with the change occurring inside of us. Consider this verse from Matthew.

“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” – Matthew 3:8

I believe we can only do this if the change is happening on the inside. Outward acts may become sporadic and tiresome if we are simply doing them for ourselves or to make ourselves look good. However, if we become people with hearts fully set on God and glorifying His Name, then producing outward fruit becomes a privilege and blessing rather than a duty or burden. How does heartfelt repentance occur? It happens when we realize God’s amazing love and grace toward us punctuated by the greatest sacrifice ever made of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins. This kind of love and grace together working with the power of the Holy Spirit changes us. Through God convicting us, we realize the deadly effects and consequences of our sin, how much we need God, and how much we need change. As we cry out to God in true and sincere confession and repentance, He hears us, forgives us, and the Holy Spirit works powerfully in us to help us become more and more like Christ.

I hope you realize just how much you need God! I would encourage you to spend a few minutes to simply pray and ask Him to help you have a sincere repentant heart. Then ask Him to show you an area of your life where you need repentance today. Remember, inward and outward repentance is important!

When we truly repent with a sincere heart, there is tremendous blessing because we are fully dependent on God and we agree with Him about our state and how we need to change. Notice how close we are to God at this point. A great blessing of repentance is intimacy in our relationship with God. When we repent with a sincere heart, we follow God’s will for our lives in changing more and more to become like Christ. This brings God glory. Therefore, repentance glorifies God. Again, the whole purpose of life is to glorify God. As a result, when we repent, we can experience the greatest joy in our relationship with God when we are doing what pleases and glorifies His Name. Repentance isn’t necessarily easy. However, if we know Jesus as Saviour, we don’t have to do it on our own. We have the power of the Holy Spirit living in us to help us along the way.

Bible Verse:

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. – Acts 3:19

Repentance is a change in direction, but we don’t simply turn just anywhere. We turn to God. He wipes away our sins and refreshes us. Think about how refreshing it is to drink a cold cup of water on a hot sunny day. Think about how refreshing it is to repent and be in a joyful and right relationship with God.

Is your heart in the right place? Will you repent of any area in your life that God brings to your attention? Remember, Heartfelt Repentance glorifies God!

(Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. – 2 Corinthians 7:10)