GUEST ARTICLE - 7 (FAILING TO REPENT)

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)