The Need For Repentance

There are times we leave church feeling really wonderful and uplifted. There are also times when we leave church feeling incredibly convicted and down on ourselves. But it's not just church. The same thing happens when we read the Bible or hear some particular lyrics in a song. Why it that?

Let me give you an example. Amazing Grace is a really uplifting song for me. Check out these lyrics.

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on a cross, my burdens gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin.

Wow! That fact that God would do that for us amazes me and it lifts me up just knowing that God cares about us THAT MUCH. :)

Here's an example of a song that convicts me. It's by the Sidewalk Prophets.

If I saw You on the street and You said, "Come and follow me."
But I had to give up everything; all I once held dear and all of my dreams.
Would I love You enough to let go, or would my love run dry when you asked for my life?

And now for the convicting chorus, as if the first verse wasn't enough . . .

When did love become unmoving, when did love become unconsuming?
Forgetting what the world has told me, Father of Love, You can have me. You can have me.

Ouch.

I heard that song on my way to work Thursday morning, the day after I had written my last story for this blog. I felt convicted about that particular story because it was more of a rant about our two presidential candidates that is was about the God I love.

And so today I write THIS story about repentance. I am writing about the conviction I felt upon hearing a song lyric that made me take action and repent of something I did.

Do you ever hear songs like that or a sermon on a Sunday morning that makes you change the direction of your thinking? They are usually rare but when they occur they can be life changing. It is God's Holy Spirit working in us. Refining us. Changing us.

It's good to have those moments of incredible highs and humbling lows because most days I tend to drift back towards the world I came out of - a world God called separated from. We must always be on guard against drifting back . . . backsliding into who we used to be.

Or love SHOULD be consuming! It should be MOVING! When it's not, we must examine ourselves and make corrections because we are definitely to "be holy, as I am holy" (Leviticus 20:26). To be "holy" means to be "set apart."

I re-wrote my story from Wednesday. You can read it here. If you have read it before I invite you to read it again to see if it have become more God honoring than it was before. I hope you will find it a better example of a "Christian" blog than you did on Wednesday.

Thank you Lord for sending your Holy Spirit who moves in us and through us. He convicts us of our sin, He draws us nearer to You. He is our interpreter - making our words acceptable to your ears. (He had a lot of work to do this past Wednesday for this servants story). Thank you Lord for your grace and mercy and for teaching us to "walk humbly this our Lord" (Micah 6:8)

⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. ⁴⁶ He told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷ and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. ⁴⁹ I am going to send you what my Father has promised (the Holy Spirit); but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” - Luke 24:45-49

Amazing Grace - Alan Jackson
You Can Have Me - Sidewalk Prophets