Friday, April 11, 2014

Lenten Devotional – Day 33

Q. 87. What is repentance unto life?

A. Repentance unto life is a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth, with grief and hatred of his sin, turn from it unto God, with full purpose of, and endeavor after, new obedience.

“Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)

“Fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement; he is a rebel who must lay down his arms . . . This process of surrender—this movement full speed astern—is what Christians call repentance. Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death. - C. S. Lewis

  Repentance demands change — a change of heart and way of life. God's word is life-giving and it saves us from destruction — the destruction of soul as well as body. Jesus' anger is directed toward sin and everything which hinders us from doing the will of God and receiving his blessing. In love he calls us to walk in his way of truth and freedom, grace and mercy, justice and holiness. Do you receive his word with faith and submission or with doubt and indifference? - Gospel Meditation, by Don Schwager

BoldlyGrace  In the opening verses of Psalm 51, we hear David crying out for relief from his own sin. He says, "Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!" (Psalm 51:1-2). David, after being called out for hooking up with Bathsheba and arranging the murder of her husband Uriah, is desperate for relief from the crushing weight of what he's done. David knows that if left to bear the burden of his brokenness much longer, it will without question kill him. He's desperate for relief from his burden.

  The season of Lent is a time of confession and repentance. It's a season when, like David, we take inventory of our brokenness, the sin which weights us down, the scars and the shame, the issues and the idolatry slung over our shoulders, held under our arms and being rolled behind us. It's a season when we are invited to repent.

  Recovery describes what happens to us after an illness or infection has left our bodies. It's also employed to describe a person's journey back from addiction. There's a huge and largely silent community out there, a subculture, known as the recovery movement: addicts helping addicts to stay clean and sober. This also best describes our relationship with sin. We have an addiction to sin, an attachment to behaviors and attitudes we are all too fond of continuing. We need repentance for our recovery to begin.

  Seventeenth-century Puritan theologian Thomas Watson argued that repentance was a spiritual medicine made up of six special ingredients. "If anyone is left out, it loses its virtue." 1) Sight of sin, 2) Sorrow for sin, 3) Confession of sin, 4) Shame for sin, 5) Hatred for sin, 6) Turning from sin. - The Doctrine of Repentance (1668), 18.

  Garrison Keillor writes about Larry, a resident of the fictional town of Lake Wobegon. Larry was saved 12 times at the Lutheran Church, an all-time record for a church that never gave altar calls. There wasn't even an organ playing "Just As I Am Without One Plea" in the background. Regardless of that, between 1953 and 1961, Larry Sorenson came forward 12 times, weeping buckets and crumpled up at the communion rail, to the shock of the minister, who had delivered a dry sermon on stewardship. But now he needed to put his arm around this person, pray with him and be certain he had a way to get home. "Even we fundamentalists got tired of him," Keillor writes. God didn't mean for you to feel guilty all your life. There comes a time when you should dry your tears and join the building committee and grapple with the problems of the church furnace and the church roof. But Larry just kept repenting and repenting. - Garrison Keillor, Leaving Home (New York: Viking Press, 1987), 182.

  In confession, the breakthrough to new life occurs. Where sin is hated, admitted and forgiven, there the break with the past is made. "Old things are passed away." But where there is a break with sin, there is conversion. Confession is conversion. "Behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Christ has made a new beginning with us. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1954), 115.

  Don't forget that the point of repentance, repetition, ritual and reinforcement in your life is so that you can get better, recover and become a new creation.

Today’s Lectionary Readings
Morning Psalm: 106:1-27
Evening Psalm: 106:28-48
Jeremiah 29:1-14
Romans 11:13-24
John 11:1-27 or John 12:1-10

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