Repentance and Forgiveness is process. It is a process that begins when you are willing to be humble. In our humility we will be able to recognize God. To repent keeps our heart soft. To repent is to in essence have a change of heart and mind. It is to realize that the way you have lived has brought great distance between you and God. We are responsible for creating that distance. We are also responsible for closing that distance as well. To do so is to first humble yourself and admit your ways are not the ways of God. You must come face to face with the cross and the blood that has been spilt on it for you. You must come to realize that the law of God or guidelines are meant to keep us close to Him and safe. They are meant to hold you accountable, so that you experience the fullness of God. Too often the commandments or guidelines given to us by God our pushed aside and overlooked. They are overlooked because their worth is no greater than the paper they were read from. To come to repentance is to come to a point in which we lessen our trust for ourselves and gain trust for God. To repent, we must come to a place in which we want to please God more than ourselves. To do so we must recognize the value of the law. Even more important is to learn that the value Christ's death is greater than any material possession, relationship, or job we may have. The death of Christ is the single greatest gift given to us by a God who does not want to push you away, but instead draw you close.
Second, you must begin a journey through the cross. Your sin has and will bear fruit of its own. Repentance is the first step. The second step is the journey of up rooting the sin that has taken a hold in your life. For some, the humble act of repentance is a enough for God to remove all temptation. For others, it is a process for our benefit. To create change in our thoughts and behavior we must give them to God daily (Luke 9:23-24). To up root sin we must recite and claim the truth found in scripture and begin living by the guidelines given to us by God as a gift. As it is said in John 15, God is the vine dresser, Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. To claim truth and repent is to begin that process in which God will begin trimming the parts of our life that keep us from Him.
Something to think about...
Second, you must begin a journey through the cross. Your sin has and will bear fruit of its own. Repentance is the first step. The second step is the journey of up rooting the sin that has taken a hold in your life. For some, the humble act of repentance is a enough for God to remove all temptation. For others, it is a process for our benefit. To create change in our thoughts and behavior we must give them to God daily (Luke 9:23-24). To up root sin we must recite and claim the truth found in scripture and begin living by the guidelines given to us by God as a gift. As it is said in John 15, God is the vine dresser, Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. To claim truth and repent is to begin that process in which God will begin trimming the parts of our life that keep us from Him.
Something to think about...
- The law is apart of who God is
- If we love God we must love his law and guidelines
- God's grace rules us so we can have right standing with God
- It shows us where we have gone wrong and displeased God
- We are safe because of a relationship with God
- Romans 5:20-21
- The law was given so we can see how sinful we are
- We are saved through a relationship with God
- The law / word is God
- We follow the law / word because we want to please God
- The law / word shows us where we have fallen short in pleasing Him
- If we become causal about God and his law, spiritual death is certain
- We must live in a place in which we are consistently paying attention to how we are displeasing God
- Sin is like disease that continues to grow
- Sin tempts us
- Sin steals from us
- Sin gives us something (feed your selfish desires)
- Sin leads to spiritual death