Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Repentance
I preached about repentance Sunday. Our definition for repentance has been flawed in my opinion. It's been the "turn or burn" mentality or the "I'm sorry" thoughts. But being sorry doesn't constitute repentance. And "turn or burn" has no love or grace involved. Sorrow can help to bring about repentance, but it's not repentance. "Godly sorrow brings forth repentance" the scripture says. But repentance is a combination of things. The Hebrew word is to sigh deeply. That indicates sorrow. Repentance is a change of mind, a change of heart. Which begs the next question. Is repentance an incident or event or is it a process? To repent is to see things through God's eyes. To see things differently than we have in the past. It's a change of heart. It's inward and it affects outward, not the other way around. When we decide to "change our minds" and to not see things in a worldy way, then we've repented. What do you think? Is repentance an incident or a process? Have a great day! JW
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2 comments:
Jim, I see repentance as a process...otherwise, we would not fight some of the same battles over and over...and each time we win and do not give in to the temptation, we become stronger, seeing things a little more like God sees them, becoming more like God in our hearts. :) db
That's a great question!
Hmmm...as humans we tend to see things as being once and for all. We see the error of our ways and repent, to never look back - the new man, right? Paul said in 1 Corinthians that neither fornicators, etc. shall inherit the kingdom of God, and that is what we WERE, but now we've been washed, sanctified. So then when we screw up, we beat ourselves up and wonder if we really repented after all or if our cleanliness "wore off."
As we walk in the light we have fellowship with God and our sins are constantly forgiven, and if we say we don't sin we're lying. So, we clearly don't just repent once, the end. However, we aren't walking in the darkness anymore, so our daily repentence must be different now while walking in the light than the original repentence from when we were walking in the darkness. Does that make sense?
I agree with dd - we definitely give in less to temptation as we walk with God. I don't think it's just an "I'm getting older" thing, but I notice as I grow spiritually, so many of the temptations and pleasures of this world just lose their appeal. Of course, just when I'm off guard is where Satan comes in.
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