Being Sorry Is The First Step Of Repentance, Not The Last

My Utmost For His Highest

 

Godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation… —2 Corinthians 7:10

 

“Conviction of sin is best described in the words: My sins, my sins, my Savior, How sad on Thee they fall. Conviction of sin is one of the most uncommon things that ever happens to a person. It is the beginning of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict people of sin (see John 16:8). And when 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”  CHAMBERS

 

Being sorry is not enough.  Repentance means turning away from your sin, not merely being frustrated and sorry that you continue to sin.  Conviction of sin is a supernatural act of the Spirit of God that brings an awareness of the truth of our sin … all sin separates us from God.  But sin is to the sinner like drugs are to the drug addict.  The Christian who sins knows it’s not good, it’s contrary to his new nature, but something drives him to want to cling to that sin. He may even ask God to forgive him, but really all he wants is relief from the conviction.  He has not abandoned what it is that draws him to that sin.  This is a spiritual struggle. (Ephesians 6:12)  That struggle manifests itself in our flesh – through physical actions and our thought life.  So it leads us to the question that Paul wrote in Romans 7:21-25 “I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man, but I see a different law in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand I myself with my mind am serving the law of God, but on the other, with my flesh the law of sin.”

 

The danger for us is that we can become complacent about the sins we struggle with.  Even accepting.  But that is not the life we have been called to.  (Hebrews 12:1-2) “ So ….. let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus is the Way, the truth, and the Life (John 14:6).  Repent.  ELGIN

 

Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus  GRIFFITH JONES, HELEN HEWARTH LEMMEL

 

Oh soul are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness to see

There's a light for a look at the Savior. And life more abundant and free

 

His words shall not fail you, He promised. Believe Him and all will be well

Then go to a world that is dying, His perfect salvation to tell

 

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face

And the things of Earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace