Skip to main content

Grace is amazing ... and so is the gift of repentance!

"Repentance is godly sorrow for our sins, because of the wrong done to God, and therefore the hurt inflicted on Him (Gen 6:6) ... if there is no conscious repentance, just an acceptance of grace then there is no awareness of what we have been saved from ... which leads to a corresponding lack of depth and commitment ..."

I read this in a book whilst I was at Bible College some 16 years ago. It must have struck me quite powerfully at the time as I wrote it on the inside cover of the Bible I was reading. It resonated with an experience I had recently had of being led by the Spirit into a season of repentance the like of which I had not experienced before. This did indeed lead to a deepening of my faith and a greater commitment to Jesus and the growth of His Kingdom throughout the world ... avery rich time indeed, and foundational in all that has followed.

Up to that point I had been 'saved' some four years, I had experienced the wonder of forgiveness, but had not really appreciated the gift that repentance is, and the fruit that comes when we avail ourselves of the liberty we have in Christ to turn away from things that hurt God, others and ourselves. Thankfully the Spirit led me on a walk along that road and, by grace, I'm still walking it! It's not just a quick polish on the surface every now and again, but a deep work that changes us from the inside out ... often that is a painful process ... but always worth it if we are prepared to walk through it.

I believe this is the key issue whenever we encounter Spiritual 'apathy' - whether it be in groups of people, in other individuals or in our own lives! The Christian faith is much more than a veneer of respectability on an otherwise unchanged life ... it is a root and branch change of motivation, purpose and meaning in life ... Christ being the motivation, the purpose, and the meaning.

I wonder why we choose to nibble on scraps when we could be feasting on the abundant life that is ours?!

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Feel free to add comments or ask questions:

Popular posts from this blog

Thoughts from a previous incumbent ...

In reference to 2 Tim 1:7 "For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of p o wer, of love a nd of sel f-discipli ne."   Norman Grubb decl are d that; "We are set in our day and generation to be overcomers, not to sail through calm seas but to walk on storms, to replace need with supply, to transform aspiration into realization. The language of defeatism, fear, lack and weakness is not to be in our vocabulary. "Let us go up at once and possess it, for we are well able to overcome it. As for these giants, they are bread for us," we say with sturdy Caleb.  We are to act as the men of faith of old; we are to visualize our goal in clear outline; we are to take it for granted that we shall reach it, for we have both the commission and anointing of God?   We lay our plans ,build our organisations, produce our written and verbal pronouncements,  prayer our prayers, do our work, not as those who will fail and fall by the way, but...
2 comments
Read more

Homes I have lived in #3

This year I am celebrating my silver wedding anniversary ... Just for something to do I have begun to sketch all the houses we have lived in during that time. So here is house number #3 On our return to the UK we were faced with the question that faces all people in transition, what next? For us, we were encouraged by our friends to investigate further training and opted to spend a year with Kerygma ministries. We joined with a group of some 20 other people from various different cultures and backgrounds to join the ministry led by Dr Bob Gordon, based at Drayton Hall near Norwich. We spent one year here, between September 1993 and July 1994.   Significant events that took place here included: Suffered reverse culture shock, as I grappled with the transition from life in a mudhut in Africa to life in the UK in a Manor House! (Struggled with the amount of money being spent on a sign that was being placed outside ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Commitment ... the final hurdle?

"I'd rather go and not come back than not go at all!" I read these words this morning and it inspired thoughts of amazing commitment and willingness to do whatever it takes to get a dream fulfilled. It spoke of an understanding that to progress and move forward there will, in all likelihood, be a price to pay. Progress does not often come cheaply, it takes a dogged determination to be willing to go the extra mile, pay the price, persevere in the face of relentless challenge and all in order to make the breakthrough, take the next tiny step in the right direction or see the completion of a goal or task.  It doesn't speak of procrastination, putting things off until tomorrow, doing it when you can be bothered or when it all falls into place and fits in with your plans. It would be so refeshing to see the whole body of Christ rise up in faith and make that declaration - to determine to complete that which has been entrusted to us - the task of global evangelisation. To s...
2 comments
Read more