Repentance

At that time the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, called you to weep and mourn. He told you to shave your heads in sorrow for your sins and to wear clothes of burlap to show your remorse. But instead, you dance and play; you slaughter cattle and kill sheep. You feast on meat and drink wine. You say, “Let’s feast and drink, for tomorrow we die!” The LORD of Heaven’s Armies has revealed this to me: “Till the day you die, you will never be forgiven for this sin.” That is the judgment of the Lord, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. [Isaiah 22.12-14]

Although this is part of a prophecy from the prophet Isaiah to Jerusalem, it has great application to people everywhere about the significance of repentance.

We need to be very attentive to the presence of sin in our lives. And, we need to be very quick to repent when sin manifests. Whether the sin is breaking Old Testament law or it is the sin of pride in not believing in Jesus as Redeemer, it is still sin and repentance is necessary. Jesus' first words of ministry were, "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!" If Jesus Himself instructed repentance, then repentance is necessary.

If we fail to comprehend the conviction of the Holy Spirit and respond in repentance, then we will likely reap the sin we have sown in pain and suffering of some kind. Either way, the point is that we need to repent!

But, when we miss God's call to repentance, and instead follow mind-over-matter techniques telling ourselves "Be happy!" we have missed the very opportunity God provided for us to be forgiven. And, therefore, we will not be forgiven.

If we miss the conviction of the Holy Spirit and then further err in missing the tangible manifestation of sin (curses as described in Deuteronomy 28), then we have missed God entirely and obviously will not be forgiven of sin for which we have not repented - be it a sin of commission or the sin of unbelief.

But there is suffering, sickness, disease, poverty, and misfortune everywhere! Am I suggesting that ALL of this is the result of sin and needs to be repented of?

Let me just answer in this way. Deuteronomy 28 (and all of the Bible for that matter) clearly instructs that obedience to God yields blessings. Jesus said He came that we might have life in abundance. If we however are not experiencing blessings and abundant life, what qualifies us to declare ourselves innocent (and not in need of repentance)? Will we declare ourselves innocent when God's definition of blessings and abundant life say otherwise?

Furthermore, will we overlook the Bible's descriptions of God that overwhelmingly declare and promise that God is good, faithful and pours out blessings on His followers, to justify ourselves with other ambiguous Bible accounts that might convince us we need not repent?

Would we not be better off repenting and not need to than not repenting and need to????

The ONLY explanation for why we would not repent is PRIDE! And pride is ironically the #1 thing God hates.

Father, I would rather repent and not need to than to fail to repent and need to. I trust You, but I do not trust myself!