FOUR THOUGHTS ON CHRISTIAN REPENTANCE

One of the hindrances to repentance is the point that some have never seen a Christian in their circle demonstrate how it is done.

Repentance is one of those categories where we suddenly remember our manners and insist that someone else should go first.

Beware of being patronizingly sympathetic to a repentant person. You may be making it more difficult for them if they have had to overcome the obvious need and still more obvious absence of it in your own life.

Repentance, simply put, is about drawing different conclusions than those which have controlled our thoughts and actions. Sometimes the change is radical enough to need tears; sometimes it is refreshing enough to call for joy; but always - whether in tears or joy, whether with or without words - its reality is known through change.

Treason in Reverse, An Unwanted Expectation and a Foolish Delusion

While pride is the principle issue separating the heart of man from God's offer of mercy, there are others. For example, to seek mercy from one against whom we have committed treason is a kind of reverse treason. Like the boy who joins a street gang, accepts their rites-of-passage and then changes his mind. In seeking mercy from God we abandon Satan's illegitimate offer to be part of a gang of gods. Thus, having given our allegiance and performed our rites-of-passage to the world, the flesh and the devil, to trust Christ makes us traitors to the false kingdom which claims our souls. Bunyan described this masterfully in The Holy War.

Picture Credit

Still another reason lies in a logical but unwanted expectation. That is, the tension between being a mercy receiver and becoming a mercy giver. This tension is manifest in movements which pride themselves on merciless rioting, pillaging and killing. Less headline-grabbing are the dark stories of years of vengeful silence against a former loved-one. Deep (and often not so deep) in the human heart is a lust to treat others without mercy. The matter was so serious it called for a very pointed parable about a man who received forgiveness for a debt he could never pay but refused to show mercy to someone for a lesser debt to him.  

Then there is the self-delusion that the need for mercy can be replaced by a promise to do better. This relates to the pride issue (as do all, I suppose) but with a twist. I often wonder what would have happened had the people of Israel, at Sinai, fallen to their knees and begged for mercy when they heard the absolute demands of holiness, obedience and justice against sins. God gave them opportunities, but they responded with naïve promises that they had it all sorted out and could handle the assignment. 

We would do well to take inventory of the full-blown or seditious remnants of mercilessness in our hearts which betray the presence of a deadly resistance to God's mercy. 

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It's A Good Thing the New Birth Is A Work of God's Spirit

See the writer's link to this picture
 and an accompanying note on depression
at the end of this devotional.

A soul is brought to the new birth and faith in Jesus Christ by the will and working of the Holy Spirit; but the process He uses is scary. He uses people like us! People who not only fail to uphold the biblical stress on the need for mercy, but who also seem incapable of distinguishing a desire for mercy from a desire for something which has nothing to do with mercy.

Yes, God can point a person to repentance by way of a "felt need" (see my note at the end of this devotional). Jesus did it a lot. But it does not stop there. Desiring God to solve a problem can be nothing more than subcontracting Him to serve our own kingdom agenda. For the sake of the unsaved soul, when we present the Gospel, we must understand this difference.

However, sloppiness with regard to mercy is not the only thing which threatens to lead to an empty or crippled faith. As Bunyan exposed the importance of conviction, he also described the danger of legalism.

Enter Mr. Worldly Wiseman - a spiritual abortionist who offers a way to avoid the stigma of the cross and the need for mercy. His counsel? Climb Mount Morality and learn from Mr. Legalist how to achieve moral success in a less embarrassing way.

Legalism is snake oil. It may satisfy the self-righteous, but it makes the burden heavier to one who grieves over embedded moral failure. To load a person with unbiblical steps, prohibitions and practices to be strictly performed (or avoided) in order to gain God's favor by self effort is a distraction and an invitation to disobedience. It distracts the mercy seeker from the Holy Spirit's grace-centered application of Christ to the soul, and it sets him on the path toward being a man-pleaser instead of a God-pleaser motivated by that atmosphere of mercy and grace in Jesus. The result is a self-righteous church member, an unmotivated churchgoer, a disillusioned and depressed "failure", or a bitter critic of Christianity.

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NEXT:  The Discovery of Mercy

Photo Link - The photo accompanying this devotional is taken from a "Mental Health Association" website in the United Kingdom. The site provides helpful observations of the character of one of the most prominent "felt needs" issues today - depression. I reference this both to give credit for the photograph and to provide a resource for observations. I am not offering a blanket recommendation for its "solutions." The Christian must be especially alert in dealing with depression because we can mistake it for guilt when, instead, it can be triggered by a host of other external factors internally misapprehended. Care must be given to keep in mind the difference between wrong thought patterns which batter someone personally and the need for mercy from God which we all share because of our rebellion against our Creator and His design. A depressed person may be content with relief and a new, positive outlook on life, and yet remain lost in  his relationship with God. On the other hand, once a depressed person has found mercy through faith in Christ, he needs coaching (paraklesis) to bring thought patterns into that atmosphere of grace which accompanies mercy. I cannot recommend highly enough Robert Kellemen's books, Soul Physicians and Spiritual Friends, for insights into that coaching process.