When I taught eight year olds about the geometrical ideas of degrees, angles, circles, and such, I tried lots of different ways for them to get what it all meant. We drew pictures, cut up pizzas into wedges and all other types of strategies to help them take hold of the idea that a circle has a total of 360°. But one sure fire way worked every time. I would ask a couple of my wiggly, energetic boys to stand up and “do a 180”, and sure enough they’d jump up in the air, spin around, and land facing the opposite direction. Thanks to skateboarding and snowboarding, kids knew the lingo of a 180. In our lives “doing a 180” means to turn around, to be heading directly opposite from where you began, a complete turnaround in direction.
Of all the RE words that define our RElationship with God and with each other, there’s one that seems to be most troublesome:
Repentance: a tough RE word
For some people it’s a ‘churchy’ or religious word.
For others, it’s doom and gloom. (You know, the cartoon guy in a robe and long beard carrying a big sign, “Repent! The End is Near!”)
Some see it as a word to use when you REALLY mess up…you know, when you do something that leaves you with an incredible amount of guilt.
And for others, it might not have any specific meaning at all–it’s just a fancy word for “Sorry.”
Synonyms: regret, lament, rue, sorrow, be sorry about, deplore, be ashamed of, relent, atone for, be contrite about, feel remorse about, reproach yourself for, see the error of your ways, show penitence. No wonder we don’t want to think or talk about the word! These all imply an end point that sends such a down message. Where do you go after all that?
Repentance creates a beginning.
“The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” Psalm 51:17
“The Holy One, says this: “I live in the high and holy place with those whose spirits are contrite and humble. I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts.” Isaiah 57:15
“Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” 2 Corinthians 7:10
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. Godly grief acknowledges the truth, changes its behavior, and that in turn leads to a sense of freedom and deliverance.” 2 Peter 3:9
Repentance is doing a 180.
A friend has been struggling with telling white lies all her adult life. They never were major fabrications, just stories that would embellish or to get her out of trouble. For years and years telling little fibs was definitely not something she worried about because no one ever knew, and no one ever was hurt by them, or so she thought. One day her little boy caught her in one of her lies. He was crying deeply. How could his perfect, beautiful mommy be lying? She always taught him never to lie and was punished when he did lie. She felt sorry and apologized to him, but from that day on, he questioned her. “Are you telling the truth?” The trust was broken. She began to realize that she was not being true to herself nor with God.
That night, sorrowful and worried for her relationship with her little son, she prayed, “I’ve been messing up for such a long time. I don’t know why I tell lies but I don’t want to anymore and I am so sorry, so very sorry. What can I do to win my son’s trust again? Please forgive me. Please help me stop this lousy habit.” In the next few days, when she told a little fib, her heart was feeling a lot of remorse, and soon she was stopping before the lie was on her lips. That weekend she sat down with her little boy and said, “I am so sorry I didn’t tell you the truth. I asked God to help me and He has all week long. I want you to believe me when I talk to you. Will you give me a chance?” The big hug around her neck and his little eyes filled with tears told her she was forgiven. Months later, she felt more authentic and positive about herself. She spends a lot more time with God too. And.. little light bulbs go on when she starts to lie!
This story is about repentance that is REAL. But beware! Phoney, unreal regret is out there tempting us to not truly turn around. Here’s some pretty powerful things to think about from his post, “Counterfeits of Repentance.” The Resurgence (Mark Driscoll site):
“So if I tell God I’m sorry, then he has to do something for me.”
“I know that I’ve done a bad thing, but if I tell God I’m sorry, then he’s obligated to cover for me, and not let my sin get caught and found out.”
“If I tell God I’m sorry, then he has to heal me. If I tell God I’m sorry, then he has to bless me. If I tell God I’m sorry, then he has to prosper me.”
“I’m sorry again, and I’ll be sorry next week, and the week after that. I’m sorry a lot. And every time I do it, at least I’m not a hypocrite, I’m authentic, I’m honest, I’m real, I’m true. Yes, I lost my temper, but they made me very angry.”
OUCH!
“God is sovereign, and free, and good. God cannot be manipulated, and God is not obligated to anyone. The opposite of repenting is getting caught, you said you were sorry, you went to rehab, you wrote a big check for people in need. We forgive you. You can golf again. Go and sin no more. That’s worldly sorrow. The whole culture we live in is built on that, and people don’t change, not at the heart level. There’s no atonement, there’s no penalty paid for sin. There’s no Jesus, there’s no Savior.” Mark Driscoll
Repentance is the act of turning from a defiant way of thinking or acting, and turning to God in obedience and love. Repentance might be very, very hard to do; it’s the only thing we can do if we want to heal relationships. Great news! Repentance immediately provides the place for God to act. Sinning creates guilt, loss, brokenness. He moves us to sorrow and hurt. Not to beat us down, but to turn us around. Being sorry, feeling pain for what we do leads us to reject what we’ve done, to never return…and then it leads us to freedom. It is about the future, not the past.
“When we come to the place where, when we are ready to take a good look at ourselves, there comes a marvelous, healing, wholesome, comforting, sweet, delivering word that sets us on our feet again…we discover a wonderful lifting of burdens, a wonderful freedom, a wonderful release — we have entered into His rest. That is what repentance does…It takes the depressed areas of our life, where we beat and torture and punish ourselves, and lifts them up. It takes the crooked places, where we have lied and deceived, and straightens them out. Then God is there at that instance of repentance.” Ray Stedman
Celebrate repentance.
Repentance brings change, hope, the promise of God’s presence, His strength not mine. God knows you like no one else knows you. He can see a true, contrite spirit. He waits to forgive.
Repentance opens the door to reconciliation – which brings retry, restore, renew, and lots more of those positive RE words!
“We need to repent when our thoughts, our attitudes, or our actions are moving us on a pathway away from the heart of God. God tells us to repent because He wants us to come back to Him; to walk in His Spirit; to drink of His living water; to come out of the cloud of confusion and back into the clarity of His peace; to make straight paths for our feet. Repentance is the pathway back to the Father’s arms.” Roy Lessin
“Living life with God is like entering a home.
The porch is repentance,
the door is faith,
and holiness is life inside the home.“
Thanks!! I think I’ll memorize that, John Wesley!
