WATCHWORD:
1 In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’”
4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matthew 3:1-6, 11-12
Meditation:
Repent!
Remember the old Steve Martin routine: “You can be a millionaire and never pay taxes… two words: I forgot.” It was a pretty funny routine at the time and it still makes us smile. But I wonder if we have failed to do or have forgotten many things that the Lord has commanded, which are pretty important, like, how to repent, to turn from our sinful ways.
How often have you said, ‘help me Lord’, and sure enough He comes and straightens you out and saves you. Ever make a bargain with the Lord? You know, help me Lord and I will never do this or that? So he helps you and then there you go, you do it again. We humans are just sinful beings with very short memories, too often.
In last Saturday’s Watchword, I made this humorous statement: “A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory”. My bad memory or my forgetfulness are not excuses for failing to follow the Lord. My confession and my repentance are serious matters in my relationship with the Lord.
The meaning of repentance is to turn from our evil ways. In other words to actually change. Not temporarily, not situationally, but a new start, a real change. It’s not a New Year’s resolution, it’s something very real that affects your daily life. Repentance.
There’s a part of repentance that we take for granted even though the foundation of Christianity is that very process. In a real sense a person cannot repent just when he chooses because it is a gift of God. Oswald Chambers tells us that the old Puritans used to pray for the gift of tears. I think we can understand that based on our times when, in desperation, we have turned to the Lord for forgiveness and made some rash promises to change and not to go back to our old ways. And we realize that He has responded and we know that we truly are His child.
But old habits and old sinful ways seemed to call us back and we may rationalize that our God is a forgiving God and, just this once, I’ll do ‘thus and so’. If you think about the monumental price that God paid for our sins then we need to get realistic and understand, that a simple “I’m sorry” is almost meaningless. Sometimes our arrogance overshadows what the Lord requires of us, to be honest and humble before him. The act of repentance Has meaning only when it is accompanied by change in behavior that is sustained.
The pastor was in the midst of a sermon on this very topic, when he referred to himself and the congregation as dirty sinners. One woman stood and, dragging her husband, stormed out saying ‘I don’t need to take that’. I wonder if sometimes it’s hard for us to realize that we are sinners by any measure. That’s a hard thing to grasp that even in some of our most simplest actions and thought processes, too often we slip sideways into thoughts and ideas that run counter to what Christ would have us do.
We are promised new life in Christ once we accept him as Lord and Savior. That new life will reveal itself in the consciousness and active repentance from which flows holiness. Try this: examine yourself to see if you have forgotten how to be truly repentant. At the same time ask for the Lord to open your eyes and your heart to see where the real work of repentance needs to be done. So be it.
David’s Prayer of Repentance (Psalm 51:1-12):
1Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions. 2Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 3For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you are proved right when you speak and justified when you judge. 5Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. 6Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place. 7Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. 8Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. 9Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.10Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. Amen.
