Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Repentance

Recently I went on a hospital visit to visit a man who had just had a heart-attack. First off, be praying for him as he's only 49 and shouldn't be having these kind of issues. No doubt that his decision to smoke since the age of 14 plays a major role in his condition; however he has made a resolution to quit smoking so be praying for a break of this addiction that plagues his life.

Anyway, while we were visiting, his mother had asked us to pray for his salvation. Of course we explained that that was a decision that he would have to make on his own, and that we were open to talk to him about that. He said he knew he had to repent and then went on his, what I like to call, "repentance speech." This is where someone will go off listing all of their sins because they somehow think that if they simply name off what they did that they will be cleansed and in right standing with God. Usually, it's not in a way that is submitting to Christ as Lord (1 Peter 3:15), but in a way to avoid hell. Unfortunately, this isn't unusual and got me thinking. Is this what we're teaching people? That heaven is about not going to hell? That repentance is more like Catholic confession? I sincerely hope not.

Repentance is not listing your sins, it's an active attitude of turning your back to your life of sin. It's saying, "I'm no longer going to follow that lifestyle!" "I'm no longer going to keep walking east, I'm going to start walking west." It's, "I'm no longer following the ways of this world, my ways, or the ways of the devil! I'm going to follow God and live for Him, not for myself!" Repentance in scripture is always an action of following God. Saul, stopped his life of persecuting Christians, became a follower of Christ, wrote a huge portion of the New Testament, was a huge influence in the ministry of many including Timothy and Titus, and became one of the most persecuted Christians ever to have lived. Simon-Peter, left his boat, his literal lifestyle, his job, what provided his food, his clothes, his house. He left all of it to follow Christ. Think about what he did there. He was making a huge statement. His job provided everything he needed. He was saying, "Jesus, I'm leaving this thing that gets me everything I need, because You are all I need." Now, before you put in your 2 week notice, understand I'm not calling you to quit your job. It's the attitude that I'm calling you to. The attitude of Jesus is all I need. Luke 14:26 says, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Obviously Jesus isn't telling us we should literally hate these people. What He's saying is that He needs to be the center of our life. Remember telling your wife she was your world? Or maybe your children? Jesus is saying, I need to be more of your world than them. He needs to be the sun. The thing your world revolves around. The thing that without it your world would be unable to sustain life. Look at every conversion story in scripture. It's men and women stopping one style of living to living a Christ-like style of living. A Christ-centered style of living. That's true repentance.

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