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Do you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders? Do you want to be set free of that burden? If so, either read on or listen to the audio file, for you will discover three practical steps to experience true freedom found through repentance.
To begin, let’s look at what King David wrote in Psalm 51:
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. . . . The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart.
—verses 10 & 17a, ESV
But what does David mean exactly?
In the previous blog post/newsletter—A Faith Worth Catching—I taught four tangible points to go deeper in your relationship with God. If you got a chance to read the blog post/newsletter or listen to the episode, you learned that the fourth point was repent by changing your ways.
Repentance is the topic for today. And that’s what King David was writing about.
Let me share a couple of references I found when writing the Go in Peace Biblical Discipleship Curriculum:
According to Ralph Earle in Word Meanings in the New Testament, “The Greek noun metanoia [in English, “repentance”] literally means ‘a change of mind.’ It is more than emotional sorrow, which too often does not produce any change of life. Rather, it is a change of mind, or attitude, towards God, sin and ourselves. Deep repentance involves a real turnabout in life.”
I also discovered in the New Unger’s Bible Dictionary that repentance contains three essential elements.
- The first element of repentance is to have “a genuine sorrow towards God on account of sin.”
Do you have a genuine sorrow like King David expressed concerning his sin? Psalm 51 was written after David committed adultery with Bathsheba.
- The second element of repentance is “an inward repugnance to sin necessarily followed by the actual forsaking of it.”
In other words, are you so repulsed, disgusted, and sickened by your sin that you forsake it? If not, it might be a good idea to dig deep and look at how God sees your sin. In fact, you might want to look up the term “filthy rags” in the Bible and see what it actually means (see Isaiah 64:6). Or listen to the audio file above, and it will spell it out for you.
- The third element of repentance is “humble self-surrender to the will and service of God.”
In view of what God has done in your life—washed you clean and set you free—can you offer Him anything less than your life? I know for me, I can’t. It’s all or it’s nothing with Him. And I’m in 100 percent.
I hope this blog post/newsletter encouraged you. If so, press on toward the goal. For in Christ and through repentance you are changed, washed clean, and set free. As you repent and embrace the truth, you will feel the weight being lifted off your shoulders.
EMBRACE TRUTH
- I am changed!
- I am washed clean!
- I am set free!
PRAYER
Dear Lord,
Sometimes the issue of repentance can seem so vague. But help me to embrace all three elements of repentance, including repugnance for a sin I might enjoy. Help me to see that sin how You see it. Help me to change my way so that I can bear fruit in keeping with repentance. Thank you for changing me. Thank you for washing me clean. Thank you for setting me free. Use me, Lord, for Your glory.
In Jesus name, amen.
DIGGING DEEPER
Click on the following passages to go deeper in the Word
- Romans 2:4
- 2 Corinthians 7:8-10
- Isaiah 64:6 (the first half of the verse)
- Ezekiel 36:17
- Jeremiah 15:19
- Matthew 3:8
- Acts 26:20
- Philippians 3:13-14
LINKS MENTIONED
- Go in Peace Leader’s Manual
- Episode 013 Learn more about filthy Rags
- Episode 017 Learn about the three types of Christians in our previous episode
CLOSING
Here is one more thought before you go. Are you discipling someone? Would you like to? Are you looking for an easy to use, 100% biblical tool to disciple with? The Go in Peace Curriculum may be an answer to your prayers. It gets to the nitty gritty, the root, of what is holding a person back in their relationship with God and teaches the person tangible ways to grow in Christ so that they can become all that God created them to be. And the cool part in all this is God wants to use you. Remember the third element of repentance? Some of the last words of Jesus before he ascended into heaven were, “Go therefore and make disciples “(see Matthew 28:19).
Amen? God bless,
