Repentance

Someone told me lately that they came across my old blog and that I should start writing them again. Honestly, I had forgotten that I ever had one in the first place. Back in college, it was a place to express the thoughts that God placed on my heart. I guess I should start back with a feel good post that leaves readers with a boost of confidence and a "everything will be alright" attitude, but that's really not what is on my heart right now. Have you ever done something you know is wrong and casually ask for God's forgiveness only to do it again, ask for forgiveness, do it again, and repeat the cycle? I know I am guilty of it. Sometimes it gets so easy to get caught up in the grace of God that we forget we aren't actually owed his forgiveness. A lot of people don't understand the difference between grace and mercy. Although they go hand in hand, they are completely different. Grace is receiving something you don't deserve. Mercy is not receiving something you do deserve. For example, God's grace allows you to be forgiven for your sin, God's mercy allows you to be spared from receiving the consequences of your sin you deserve. God's grace allows you to make it to work safely even though you were speeding, God's mercy allowed you to make it to work without getting a ticket. You can speed everyday and not pass a cop. You are still speeding, but you aren't facing any consequences. Until that one morning you top the hill and see the officer sitting there with his radar gun and you instantly know the blue lights are coming. God's grace allowed you to make it safely to work even though you didn't follow the traffic laws set in place to ensure safely of people on the road. God's mercy allowed you to not get a ticket for every morning up until the one where your lead foot finally caught up to you. There are a number of situations that could be used, but what matters is that we get into a place of not even realizing that we are in sin. We become so accustomed to grace that we forget about mercy. It's usually at the point when we aren't receiving mercy and are facing a consequence we actually deserve that we call out to God. This is not what it means to live in the full abundance of Christ. If we ask for forgiveness and keep sinning, that is not true repentance. In Kelly Minter's study All Things New, she states that "when we're truly sorry for our sin, we return to a walk of obedience to Christ, and a new level of intimacy is established." How often do we show sorrow over our sin? How often does it actually hurt our heart to know that Jesus died on the Cross for us to have freedom, but we have made a choice to abandon that freedom for a moment of emotional, physical, or mental pleasure? I will speak first and say I am guilty of this. 15 This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says: “In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it." Isaiah 30:15 The nation of Israel has a long history of being rebellious, and instead of repenting and allowing God to redeem them, they chose to fight their own battles and continue in the same struggles God so desperately wanted to save them from. How often is this the reflection of our lives, where God is waiting for us to truly repent and stop letting Satan use alcohol, sex, money, or whatever other vise has entangled us? As I am praying through a season of needing mercy and acknowledging the grace that I have so often taken for granted, I pray that God would reveal those areas in your life that you have become numb to. May you grow in intimacy with him as you abandom the chains of sin, and receive the freedom of forgiveness. Lord, we thank you for your grace so undeserving. We lift up those areas of our lives where we have allowed the powers of Satan to enslave us and abandon our freedom found in you. Lord reveal to us the areas where like Israel, we are not surrendering to you. Allow us to truly repent and face sorrow of our sin and the separation from you. If your mercy is withheld from us, allow us to live with the consequence of our sins, but let it be used as a testament of your glory. We aren't defined by our shortcomings, but by your power in that even in our darkest moment, in our deepest sin, Christ loved us enough at that moment to die for us. May we live in the promise of who you are and that your plans for us are good. It's in your name we pray, Amen.