“[W]hen the Holy Spirit stirs
a person’s conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not that
person’s relationship with others that bothers him but his relationship with
God— “Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in your sight…”
(Psalm 51:4). The wonders of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are
so interwoven that it is only the forgiven person who is truly holy. He proves
he is forgiven by being the opposite of what he was previously, by the grace of
God. Repentance always brings a person to the point of saying, “I have sinned.”
The surest sign that God is at work in his life is when he says that and means
it. Anything less is simply sorrow for having made foolish mistakes— a reflex
action caused by self-disgust. The
entrance into the kingdom of God is through the sharp, sudden pains of
repentance colliding with man’s respectable “goodness.” Then the Holy Spirit,
who produces these struggles, begins the formation of the Son of God in the
person’s life (see Galatians 4:19). This new life will reveal itself in
conscious repentance followed by unconscious holiness, never the other way
around. The foundation of Christianity is repentance. Strictly speaking, a
person cannot repent when he chooses— repentance is a gift of God. The old
Puritans used to pray for “the gift of tears.” If you ever cease to understand
the value of repentance, you allow yourself to remain in sin. Examine yourself
to see if you have forgotten how to be truly repentant.” CHAMBERS
When the Holy Spirit convicts
you of some sin, be careful that you don’t misdirect your sorrow. What I mean is that we sin against God, but
often times, we turn that sin inward and feel bad about ourselves for ourselves
and not God. Still confused? Forgiveness and repentance is not about
feeling better about you and the hope of being a “good” person. Forgiveness and repentance is the process of
restoration to the Father and not merely re-affirming yourself as being a good person. You see, that is the way the flesh is …
something spiritual happens, and the flesh rises it up to snatch it and use it
for it’s own benefit. When David was
confronted by the prophet Nathan, David looked up to God knowing that he,
David, having sinned needed to be restored in relationship to the Father. He didn’t think, “Oh what a terrible person I
am, how can I ever feel better about myself.”
His desire to be one with the Father was primary in his motivation to
repent. And so it should be with us.
I have been thinking about
this dynamic of sin, forgiveness and repentance a good deal of late. Why doesn’t God just take our ability to sin,
our desire to sin, away from us on the day of our salvation? Wouldn’t life be so much easier? And then I wonder what this world would be
like without the testimony of the saints of God. Imperfect people, loved by a perfect God, saved by the perfect sacrifice of the Son, inhabited
by a perfect Spirit, shown the way to live by His perfect Word, demonstrating
the love and power of God by living out our new lives in Christ in an imperfect world that is desperately in need of hope. (2 Corinthians 4:7-12) “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to
show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard
pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted,
but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in
our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in
our body. For we who are alive are
always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be
revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at
work in you.” ELGIN
Bondye Beni Ou (God Bless You)
Charley Elgin
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