We are presently going
through the lent season. Lent is a special
season provides time for believers to get closer with God and to reconcile with
Him by focusing on repentance. During this season, we used to fast, pray and
meditate the word of God and love of God portrait on the cross. The ultimate
goal of all these is to lead us to have “True repentance”.
What
does “true repentance” means? The biblical definition for true repentance is a
change of mind that results in a change of action (Luke 3:8-14; Acts 3:19; Acts 26:20
declares, “I preached that they should repent and turn to God and prove their
repentance by their deeds”) on contrary, the absence of either change of mind
or change of action leads to False Repentance.
Isn’t it must to
know why true repentance is crucial in one’s life? What happen if we don’t
truly repent? Come let us examine the
significant risk of false repentance from the light of God’s word. The spot
light of our meditation is focused on 3D’s of false repentance which is
dangerous and brings disaster in our life. Should we not be aware of those 3D’s
repentance which destroys our own lives?
Yes, we must know those 3D’s.
They are
·
Delay
Repentance
·
Deny
Repentance
·
Devoid
Repentance
These 3D’s phases
of repentance make us unable to receive true forgiveness of God in our lives.
Why? Proverbs 28:13 says people who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if
they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy. This verse vivid that
we cannot receive God’s mercy if we delay, deny and devoid confessing our sins
to God and its equivalent to conceal our sins. Now let us explore these 3D’s
seen in the lives of two personalities given in the scripture as an instance.
Delay Repentance of
Achan
When
Israelites had their great journey towards Canaan, they met a terrible and
unexpected defeat at Ai. Though the people of Ai were very few in number than
Israelites they defeated them. When Joshua enquired God about their defeat, He
states the reason in verse Joshua 7:11,12 God says “Israel has sinned and broken my covenant, they have stolen some of the
things that I commanded must be set apart for me. And they have not only stolen
them but have lied about it and hidden the things among their own belongings. That
is why the Israelites are running from their enemies in defeat”. God also
said to Joshua that He will not remain with them any longer unless they destroy
the things among them that were set apart for destruction.
In
verse Joshua 7:14-15 Sovereign God commands Joshua “In the morning, present yourself tribe by tribe. The tribe
the Lord chooses shall come forward clan by clan; the clan the Lord chooses
shall come forward family by family; and the family the Lord chooses
shall come forward man by man. Whoever is caught with the devoted
things shall be destroyed by fire, along with all that belongs to
him. He has violated the covenant of the Lord and has done an
outrageous thing in Israel!”
Now,
you may wonder why God has to follow this tedious strategy to find out the guilty
man. God is omniscient and omnipotent. God not only knows the reason but also
the person who is responsible for the defeat. Then why God has to abstain
himself not to reveal the culprit directly to Joshua by name. He did it because
God never takes any pleasure in the death of the wicked. Rather, He is
pleased when they turn from their ways and lives (Ezekiel 18:23). For that
reason, God gave period of time as last chance for Achan to realize his sin and
repent for it. But what Achan did? He delayed his repentance. Until Joshua begged
him to accept the truth Achan kept num. only after he realized that he cannot
cover the sin anymore in verse 7:20 he confessed that he had sinned against the
lord God of Israel and he said what he done with devoted things. Since Achan
missed out God’s grace period for his repentance he had to face God’s judgment
and his end was pathetic death. Delaying repentance is actually known to cause
your flesh to decay.
Deny Repentance of King
Saul
After
Saul was anointed to be King, God instructed Saul through Samuel with condition
in I Samuel 10:8 that Samuel will surely come down to Saul to sacrifice burnt
offerings and fellowship offerings, but Saul must wait seven days until He come to Saul and tell Saul what Saul are
to do. When we read I Samuel 13:8-13 due to Saul impatience he offered unlawful
sacrifice to God which should be done by priest not by king. Saul partially disobeyed
God’s word and act foolishly that he waited for 7 days but he didn’t wait till
Samuel return to him and instruct him what to do next. Even when Samuel pin
point Saul’s mistake, he deny repenting and deny accepting unlawful sacrifice
he made to God. So Lord has sought
for Himself a man after His own heart, and the Lord has terminated Saul’s kingdom, because Saul have not
kept what the Lord commanded him.
As long as we were justifying or covering up things in our past we will never
be all that we can be for God’s glory. They will always stand in your way from
being used by God in the ultimate way that God has in mind for you. So, never deny repentance in your life if so then you
will lose God’s plans and purpose in your life.
Devoid of
Repentance
Again
Saul disobeyed God’s word. I Samuel 15:2,3
says, “Thus says
the Lord of hosts: I will punish Amalek for what he did to
Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Now go
and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare
them. But kill man and woman, infant and nursing child, ox and sheep, camel and
donkey.” But what Saul did? I Samuel 15:9 says, “But Saul and the
people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the
lambs, and all that was good,
and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and
worthless, that they utterly destroyed.”
When
Samuel disclosed God’s heart to Saul, Then Saul said to Samuel, “I have
sinned, for I have transgressed the commandment of the Lord and your
words, because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. Now therefore,
please pardon my sin, and return with me, that I may worship the Lord.”
Though Saul repents why didn’t God show mercy to him because Saul doesn’t
repent truly? Yes Saul Repentance was devoid i.e. empty he repent only by words
not by heart. So God doesn’t show mercy to him because God weights heart(Proverb
21:2), works(Proverb 3:2) and the spirit
(Proverb 16:2). End of Saul’s life was also terrible that he was killed by the person
whom he spared.
My dear friends,
sometimes we use to take things carelessly and think that we can repent later
or partially repent and even deny repenting. Today, decide to avoid covering
sin for quite long time and don’t justify your sin and never be reluctant to
repent rather come to Jesus today. He has already paid the price for you on the
Calvary. He forgives you and cleanses you with His precious blood and makes you
receive God’s mercy in your life. Our true repentance surely draws us near to
God and makes us to live and have eternal life. So why do you wait? Utilize
this lent season and repent truly.
(Note: My dear young friends, this article was written by Ms. Ayshwarya.
She is working as a guest lecturer in a college. GHG team thank Ms. Ayshwarya
for the article. May God bless her abundantly. If you wish to send your
article, mail it to goldenhandsofgrace@gmail.com)
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