Repentance

What if I told you today that I was no longer going to post. I am not inspired to write anymore, I don't have time. School (although it hasn't started) is practically taking over my life. I went to the library and bookstore today and picked up a few books that when put together are as long as the Bible. So I would have to make a tradeoff. Sorry guys.

HAH! What a bunch of bularky. If I told you that today, I would be a dirty liar. A Cretan if you will. ;-) Read my post on faithfulness. My posts seem to be fewer and further between, but what can I say? I really am busy, and for a good number of weeks out of the year I'm away from internet access. I'll be going to Mexico this coming week, and then Survival Camp 2 weeks after that. Don't have a heart attack, though. I'll always come back, and that's what matters.

It reminds me of a certain spiritual area with which most people seem to have problems: that being repentance. Now, I'm coming into this blind, so let's see what I can scrounge up in the way of verses while we walk through this subject. It seems to me that most people take either 1 of 2 extremes on this subject.

The first extreme being that repentance is a safety hatch for all sin that you may or may not do. That meaning that I can go out and do whatever I want with the idea in mind that I can just go back to God and He'll forgive me. Now, although it may be completely valid that we are not at all powerful enough to "out sin" God's grace and that this implies a certain freedom with our actions, if we are sinning blatantly without scarring our conscience, this could be a big red flag saying: "Hey stupid! Wake up and smell the coffee! Salvation means a changed heart, not a license to sin!" If salvation means being rescued from the power of sin, and then we go back to the sin we were saved from, what was the point?! Paul puts it quite nicely in the first two verses of Romans 6. "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?" We cannot die and live at the same time in the same sense. I cannot be brain dead and brain alive at the same time. I cannot be dead to sin and living in it at the same time.

The second extreme is this: repentance is a one time thing that happens when we become a Christian, and since God has forgiven us, we need not worry if we ever mess up. This is not any closer to the truth as the last extreme. We are supposed to repent of our sin when we realize we have done wrong. David did this when he committed adultery with Bathsheba. When confronted with His sin, David immediately confessed (2 Samuel 12). Now, perhaps the problem is not with how often we should repent, but with what actually defines the word. I think that this is what people don't understand. Repentance means confession and a rejection of the confessed sin. I'm not so sure that it necessarily implies a plea for forgiveness (the initial request does. We have to accept God's gift before it's actually ours), since indeed Christ has already forgiven us for all our sin. It does however demand a brokenness over our sin, and an honest desire to seek after Christ and kill the sin that once entangled us.

What then? The idea I'm trying to convey is that neither the power nor the importance of repentance should be taken away. I know that often times I either lean towards one side or the other of these views of repentance. We should not forget to constantly be trying to close the gap between us and God by removing the sin that is in the way, knowing the infinite nature of God's grace. Let's not be afraid of coming back to God knowing our depravity means we are not perfect. Let's not be afraid that God might not take us back this time, that He's fed up with us, that we've sinned one too many times. Let us not forget this, but let us not forget God's anger either. God will NOT tolerate unrepented sin. Evil CANNOT win. God won't let it, and I pity the man who "takes advantage" of God's grace, all the while thinking he's going somewhere he isn't.

I'm having a tough time concentrating right now, but I think that's quite enough to chew on for today hmm? Enjoy. And leave me lots of comments!