Submission to God Archives

Christianity 101: The Lost Art of Repentance

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near!” (Matthew 3:1-2)

This was the cry of John the Baptist.

This was also the plea from Jesus.

“The time has come,” [Jesus] said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe in the good news!” (Mark1:15)

John’s entire message was of repentance.

John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Mark 1:4

So, what is repentance and why is it so important?

Definitions are always a good place to start.

The Bible does not split up these definitions as the Merriam-Webster dictionary does, but rather combines them. In other words, to repent in the biblical sense means to change one’s mind regarding certain actions or behaviors that prompt feelings of regret and contrition, by doing away with and rejecting all rationalizations of such behaviors, and accepting one’s humble duty to commit themselves to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life. When John baptized his followers, he immersed them completely under water. Baptism represented a complete submission and immersion unto a person’s teachings. Baptism represented a long-term committed lifestyle change. A lifestyle of repentance meant always admitting when you’re wrong, make peace with those you’ve wronged, always be quick to ask God for mercy and forgiveness, and do whatever you can to turn away from committing the same sin again. It represented a complete change in lifestyle. It was not a one-time admittance of one’s imperfections.

No one likes to talk about sin. No one likes it when their own faults are pointed out to them. It’s never enjoyable. It’s never pleasant. And yet, John was never lacking in disciples. Many came to him to be baptized.

Who were these people, these followers of John? I suspect they were “sinners”. They were those who felt burdened by their guilty consciences. They were those who felt “too far gone” for God to forgive them. They had been ensnared by sinful habits: drunkenness, thievery, prostitution, adultery, the love of money, petty resentments, envy, jealousy, malice, debauchery, … well, you get the picture. They had done wicked things… and they knew it. But… they were not proud of it. Far from it. They were ashamed. But they also felt as if they had no hope.

John had preached a message of hope. Confess your sins to God, repent, commit to change, and God will forgive you all your sins.

It probably wasn’t an easy message for these folks. No one likes to talk about the things they are secretly ashamed or embarrassed about. Especially to God. If anything, we are more apt to get defensive and make excuses for our actions in order to avoid feelings of guilt or shame. But John preached that admitting wrongdoing in spite of the feelings of vulnerability and humiliation confession might stir up, is the only way we can be cleansed. This is how we are made new, by confessing our sins to God and to one another. It is never a “fun” experience, by any means. It goes against our human pride. We want to feel strong, confident, and in control. We want to feel good about ourselves. Talking about our doubts, fears, faults and weaknesses takes vulnerability. And it never feels good. Not at the time. But there is a strange irony that occurs when we do admit our faults and failures. A burden feels lifted. We realize we’re not alone. And we feel… changed. It is by talking about our weaknesses that we are truly cleansed. We’re more apt to put the past behind us. And this is why God wants us to confess our sins and failures. He knows what’s best for us. And His heart, being full of love, will never turn anyone away, no matter what that person has done.

Many of John’s followers asked John for advice. No doubt, they were feeling wretched. Would they ever be able to atone for all the evil they had done? Perhaps, they didn’t even trust themselves to know how to change from old behaviors.

My impression of John’s followers is this: in their hearts, they wanted to please God, but deep down, they felt horribly inadequate. They weren’t sure if they were even capable of doing it. They wanted to believe it was possible. They confessed their sins, they allowed themselves to be baptized by John, and hoped that John was right, that God would indeed forgive them of all their mistakes.

It is important to note that the Pharisees and Jewish leaders were preaching a message that suggested that one could earn righteousness by checking all the boxes and obeying the Old Testament Law. They emphasized outward actions, however, as if that was all God cared about. And people understood sin based on what the Pharisees had taught them. Thus, these people who became John’s followers were most likely those who were the obvious criminals: prostitutes, thieves, adulterers, etc., and others who felt weighed down by the burden and shame of personal guilt of sin.

In order to confess sin, you have to know what sin is. As I mentioned earlier, people during that time period knew what sin was based on what they were told by the Jewish religious leaders. People in general didn’t have copies of the Torah or the Septuagint laying around in their homes. You have to understand – this was 2000 years ago. The printing press hadn’t even been invented yet. Books were rare. They were written by hand. There were no computers, no internet servers, no Bible apps, nor audio books. A lot of people didn’t even know how to read. But the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Jewish leaders, and the teachers of the Law, certainly did know how to read, and they read Scriptures often. And so, everyone assumed these folks knew all the answers and were teaching them everything they needed to know. But then this Jesus fellow comes along… and puts them all to shame.

It is extremely important to understand one critical fact: everything Jesus taught was already there in the Old Testament. It is absolutely ridiculous for anyone to say that Jesus taught something anything different from what was already explicitly stated, or at least alluded to, in the Old Testament.

Over and over again, in the Old Testament, God asked that his people give him their hearts. Over and over again, it was revealed that God sees into people’s hearts and knows our innermost thoughts and motives. God sees what no one else sees. And this was Jesus’ entire point when he stood up before thousands and said, “You have heard it said, do not commit adultery. But I tell you, if you look upon a woman who is not your wife with lust, you have already committed adultery in your heart.” In other words, Jesus was explaining to people what sin is in God’s point of view. He was explaining to them that sin included those secret thoughts and motives in the heart. Sin included those things we do in secret, that we keep hidden from our friends, our family. And this must have been a shock to the crowd of people listening to His message. They had been duped into believing it was all about appearances because that was what the Jewish leaders were preaching. As long as you kept your nose outwardly clean and your reputation untarnished, you’re okay. And Jesus had to ruin all that.

I’m sure most people who listened were stunned. Those who already felt burdened by their sinfulness – the prostitutes, thieves, and those who abused their authority – well, they were probably feeling even worse. They already knew they were sinners. Now they knew just how far off the mark they really were! And those who thought they had checked all the boxes… well, they were feeling quite ashamed of themselves. How can any heart and mind be completely pure and unblemished?

The point of Jesus message came down to this: Every person is in need of repentance. Not a single person is without sin. We all need to repent of something.

John encouraged his followers to produce fruit in keeping with repentance. That is, don’t turn back to your old ways! Stay focused on directing your life towards God and what pleases Him, and you will store up for yourself treasures in heaven.

While it is fine and good and wonderful to preach the message of the Cross – that is, that Christ bore the wrath of God upon His body when He died upon the Cross so that we might be redeemed in the sight of God and win favor with an eternal reward of life in heaven – the message of the Cross has no value apart from the message of repentance. There is a beautiful irony here. The more one is aware of the impurity within their own selves, the more one appreciates the gift of Redemption. And the more one appreciates the gift of Redemption, the more one desires to commit to a life pleasing to God. It is in this way, God slowly changes us, from the inside out. While it may be uncomfortable initially to stand under God’s pure light since it will by its very nature reveal the impurity of our own souls, it is vital to resist the temptation to run away and hide, as Adam and Eve did. Let God’s holy light do its holy work in transforming us into His holy people, willing servants to do His holy will.

“For you were bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” – 1 Corinthians 6:20

Glorify God by living a life in keeping with repentance. Live a life in keeping with the message of the Cross – that our crown of future heavenly glory is an unmerited gift, reserved for us, not because we’ve somehow earned it by living “perfect” lives, but because Christ earned it by His perfect life, death, and miraculous resurrection, and gives it away freely as a gift to all those who believe in Him. Do these two things simultaneously and you will bear fruit worthy of a true disciple of the Lord.

Suffering

A friend of mine shared with me a couple videos in which the speaker addressed the issue of suffering.

I admit, suffering is a difficult topic to tackle, especially if you’ve experienced much personal suffering yourself, have been a witness to the suffering of others, or have felt burdened with anxiety by the stories of tragedies, wars, injustices, and pandemics, going on all over the world.

In my own personal life, I’ve survived indescribable trauma from neglect and abandonment at a very young age. These experiences left deep scars. Emotions that had been suppressed for decades suddenly bubbled up to the surface some years ago. I thought I had forgiven those who had hurt me, but I had been blind. I had been in denial of how deep the scars were.

The question that was addressed in the video is this: How do we reconcile suffering with a good God?

I believe that if we ask this question, it is because we have not meditated long enough upon the sufferings of God Himself. Surely, God has suffered. He is painfully cut to the heart each time He is sinned against and rejected by those of whom He had created to be His image bearers. His Son, also, was well acquainted with suffering, sorrow, persecution, even death on a cross. How do we reconcile Christ’s suffering with His perfect, sinless life? He who knew no sin… suffered the humiliating death of a criminal. What an injustice! And God the Father did nothing to save Him. Even so, God the Father suffered the most heartbreaking loss any parent could endure: the loss of his only Son.

Contrast this suffering to the suffering that affects all mortal human life. It is the suffering every human being endures. It is the result of the Fall. This type of suffering is meant to make us humble, so that we never think more of ourselves than what we ought. God told Adam that if he ate of the forbidden tree, he would surely die. But God in His mercy allowed Adam to live. Even so, God was very harsh on Adam. He threw Adam out of the garden and told him that from now on, life will no longer be easy. Instead, it will be full of suffering. And we’ve been living under that curse ever since.

When the sufferings of this life felt overwhelming, the faithful in the Old Testament cried out to the Lord for mercy. Why did they cry out for mercy? Because they considered their very lives to be a blessing from God. Surely, God would have been just to end the entire human race since all had rebelled against Him in some way. And if our very lives are blessings from God, we have no right to complain, even of our sufferings. The faithful pleaded with God not because they felt they had any right to complain, but because they knew God to be a God of mercy. They understood God as a Father who is compassionate towards those who love Him.

“Suffering is having what you don’t want or wanting what you don’t have.”

This is the definition that was given in the video. However, in my opinion, this definition sounds a bit too self-centered. Based on this logic, if I don’t get what I want, then I’m… suffering? Any minor inconvenience could fall into that category. But I wouldn’t call that “suffering”. If a person feels he is suffering every time he doesn’t have what he wants, then he is a miserable soul indeed! This definition certainly describes the needless “suffering” of a self-centered soul, who resents the things he does have and covets the things he doesn’t. I don’t see how it applies to the sufferings of someone of faith. It describes someone who grumbles whenever things don’t go as planned, or the petulant “suffering” of a child who has been deprived of his toys. This definition may describe the reason why people indulge in resentful complaining when things don’t go their way. But this isn’t suffering.

True suffering goes far deeper. Suffering is enduring great hardship, pain, or loss.

We all know what it means to suffer. The wounds are deep and painful. You are cut to the heart. Both your heart and spirit are broken, shredded, and trampled on. It is the heartbreak over a broken relationship. It is the rejection of friends and family. It is the affliction of an intensely painful disease. It is the indescribable loss of someone dearly loved. It is enduring the ugliness of abuse and the persecution and betrayal of friends. It is walking in the same shoes as Job did, experiencing the same hardships he did, when he lost his wealth, his marriage, and his entire household, and he sat in ashes as boils afflicted his skin.

Suffering HURTS. It is PAINFUL. And if neither loss nor tragedy causes you pain, sorrow, or tears, you need to check your pulse. Because suffering will happen to us all, both Christian and non-Christian alike. No one is immune.

Suffering will do one of two things to a person: either it will soften the heart, or it will harden it. A softened heart will humbly accept the pain and will pour out their heart before God and others, in unashamed tears of sorrow. A hardened heart will be too proud to indulge in sorrow. A hardened heart may even consider the pain unacceptable. Such people will either fight bitterly against it, attempt to flee from it by avoiding, minimizing, or dulling the pain, or they will wallow in self-pity. Suffering will build up the character of someone whose heart is softened, but it will only worsen the character of someone whose heart is hardened.

May we never trivialize the sufferings of Christ. Certainly, He suffered, but He thought nothing of His own sufferings, or His own wants and cares, but He purposed Himself to consider and do only the will of His Father. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son to die a brutal death upon a Cross. Yet in no way did Christ despise the Cross of which He experienced the greatest physical pain one can imagine. Not only did He not despise it – He embraced it gladly because He knew the gain His followers would receive as a result of His sacrifice. His greatest “want”, His greatest desire, was not to gain anything for Himself, but for us to gain an eternal inheritance. Surely, Christ achieved this goal. But it was not without great sorrow and loss! It was not without suffering!

Christ’s sufferings remind me of a classic story, Sleeping Beauty. As you might recall, the princess is in a deep sleep, and only the kiss of a prince will revive her. But in the story, the valiant prince, her betrothed, is imprisoned, and once released, he must go on a quest fighting a fierce dragon. He endures one hardship after another, one battle after another, but he does so willingly and without complaint, because his eye is on his prize – his betrothed. In similar fashion, out of love for His Bride, the Church, Christ was willing to endure any quest, any hardship, any form of suffering, to raise up the Church, from death to life.

To love as Jesus loved is to love so deeply that all our self-focused wants and desires are nothing in comparison to being with Him, in meeting the needs and interests of others, to give until it hurts, so that others will not be in want, to intercede on behalf of the saints to the point of tears, to ache in our hearts for those who have fallen away from the faith, to bless those who curse you so that they may receive a blessing and know the grace of God. To suffer as Jesus suffered is to look towards our eternal inheritance: “For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross.” For the joy set before us, eternal life with our Lord and Savior, we gladly accept our momentary sufferings in this world.

Suffering in this way puts an end to all manner of attitudes of self-interest. Never again will you give any thought to consider suffering “unacceptable”. In fact, Saint Paul considered his suffering the “glory” of the people of whom he ministered to. When he was questioned regarding his qualifications as an apostle, he could have listed all the churches he had started during his missionary journeys, but instead, he listed all the sufferings and hardships he had faced since becoming a disciple of Christ: he had been stoned, flogged, shipwrecked, imprisoned, all for the sake of the gospel. How might our own attitudes of suffering change if we looked at suffering in the same perspective?

John chapter 9 describes a story of a man born blind. The story begins with Jesus’ disciples discussing what “caused” the man to be born blind: was it his sin, or the sin of his parents? Jesus’ response blows the mind and flips all our assumptions about suffering on its head: “Neither, but so that the glory of God may be revealed.”

This verse had earth-shattering implications for me. I have suffered eye disease since early childhood. I have gone through countless eye surgeries. I thank God every day for the vision I still have, but I must confess, there had been times I’ve asked the question, “Why, God?” Jesus’ answer regarding the man born blind gave me great hope that God could use my suffering for His glory. I have since shared my story to others, and I’ve given God all the credit for preserving my eyesight for the last forty years. God has watched over me, and I’ve done more with my life than I ever thought possible, considering all that I have endured since early childhood. He alone sustains me.

“We say that there ought to be no sorrow, but there is sorrow, and we have to accept and receive ourselves in its fires. If we try to evade sorrow, refusing to deal with it, we are foolish. Sorrow is one of the biggest facts in life, and there is no use in saying it should not be. Sin, sorrow, and suffering are, and it is not for us to say that God has made a mistake in allowing them. Sorrow removes a great deal of a person’s shallowness, but it does not always make that person better. Suffering either gives me to myself or it destroys me.” – OSWALD CHAMBERS

Romans 8:18 – “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”

Unused Gifts…

SpiritualGifts Just this morning I was reading a devotional on the Parable of the Talents from Matthew 25. It also happens to be the lesson for Sunday’s Bible Study. As I read it, I felt deeply convicted. I know that I have not used all the “talents” God has given me. My great sin has been laziness on my part and I and I alone am to blame.

I have wanted to do blog for a long time to help encourage others in their spiritual walk and only recently have done so. My husband keeps nagging me to practice the keyboard (we have no keyboardist in our praise band) but I feel intimidated by the task. I know I’m not good at it. But at the same time I feel a peculiar resentful when other people try a hand at it. But it is exactly what Jesus warns us about: If you don’t use your talents, it will be taken away from you. If you don’t take advantage of the opportunity to use your gifts to His glory, no matter how small the task might be, God will appoint someone else to do it. And it is our undoing that the task was given away.

If God has called you for a particular task, if people keep nagging you to serve in some way, do not allow doubt, laziness, or indecision to trip you up. Simply get up and do it. If you stumble, God will surely pick you up and help you along the way. He will not abandon you, no matter how intimidating or daunting the task might seem to be; if it is a task meant to glorify Him, He will make it happen.

Today, I promise to learn the keyboard, and take full advantage of whatever other opportunities God presents to me…

Give It To God!

The author expresses feelings of discouragement and personal struggle, including the loss of a beloved pet, job uncertainty for their husband, and ongoing health issues. Despite these challenges, they emphasize the importance of surrendering to God, trusting in His support, and recognizing human limitations to find peace and joy in life.

I apologize for neglecting to post. I admit I’ve been feeling rather low and discouraged lately. And that’s why I haven’t been on here. This site was meant to be an encouragement for others. But it’s hard to be encouraging when you don’t feel it yourself. Or at least that is what Satan would like me to believe.

Isn’t it interesting how Satan works to distract us right when we are doing something right and for His glory? As soon as we are doing something right, he will try to knock us down.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been hit with the following:

My sweet cat of 15 years had to be put down. His condition deteriorated quickly from kidney disease. It was truly heartbreaking. I had adopted him as a kitten. He had been horribly neglected but after I showered him with love, he returned that love a thousand-fold. He was my constant companion long before I married my husband. I don’t know if I believe there’s a heaven for animals. The Bible says nothing on the subject. But the Bible does say there will be a new creation. My hope is that I will see my sweet Merlin someday perhaps in that new creation. In the meantime, it has felt like a hole in my heart. I keep expecting to see him slipping from the shadows right around the corner…
My husband may lose his job. Layoffs at his workplace are eminent. It’s just a matter of who and when.
My health. Been experiencing pain almost every night and morning. Sometimes it keeps me awake. A couple days ago I was in tears. I prayed for the pain to go away and it did subside, praise God! But this pain often gets me down. I have arthritis and Sjogren’s Syndrome. This combination can sometimes feel overwhelming.

BUT God is good. I am still here standing!

One thing God has pressed upon my heart a lot lately is just how much I need to just LET GO and LET GOD do the rest. God knows we can’t do everything ourselves and we often allow ourselves to get too easily discouraged by life’s circumstances. He knows our frailties and weaknesses. He knows also our struggles with sin, doubt, and discouragement. But He is patient with us and tells us that all we have to do is give it all over to Him and He will carry the burden for us. He will mend our brokenness and replace our sorrows with joy if we only ask it of Him.

And so I give it all up to God. May HIS will be done in my life and yours! We get ourselves in such a twist when we try to handle everything ourselves. The more we try to “control” the situation, the more we realize we have no control at all and we fall apart at the seams. If only we were wise enough to know our own limitations. If only we could accept them and allow God to help us when we feel the most overwhelmed. We would be so much happier!

Give it all up to God. You won’t regret it! 🙂