Humbly
Repent
What does it mean to humbly repent? During
Lent we prepare ourselves for Easter by considering our sins.
How does that affect us? Are we excited to finally have a reason
to sit and ponder our sins? Are we paralyzed by shame and hopelessness?
Do we crumble; thinking: “There’s no way out.” Are
we glad that our sins aren’t as bad as they used to be?
Or do we humbly repent?
I’ll be the first to admit that confession is not my highest spiritual
priority. God is constantly trying to help me see how beautiful an experience
repentance is; but I continue to ignore His gift. I would rather not think about
my sins.
Romans 2:4 asks:
“Or do you show contempt for the
riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing
that God's kindness leads you toward repentance?”
Yes, I do. I show contempt for the riches of
God’s kindness, tolerance and patience on a regular basis.
That is why I am grateful for a season like Lent that focuses
on repentance. The Israelites had a similar practice before Passover
as they cleared their homes of yeast. Yeast represented sin in
their lives. During Lent I am asked to consider my sins. At our
church our Sunday services during Lent focus on repentance at
the very beginning of our community worship, so there’s
no getting around the value of repentance during Lent for me.
I think one of the reasons I avoid repentance is that I don’t
humbly repent. It is my natural instinct to repent only of things
that I have a pretty good idea that I can stop doing. There aren’t
that many of those, so my list isn’t so long. When I humbly
repent, I sit with the reality of the sins that I recall and consider
the reality that there are many more that God knows that I can’t
even see (that’s how deceitful my heart is —Jeremiah
17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond
cure. Who can understand it?”) I simply put them all
out there, and I realize the reality of what is happening in my
soul. It is humbling to see that even though I can recognize my
sins, I cannot change them. I can see God smiling at this point.
He knows I’m getting somewhere now. I feel like I’m
a slave to sin, but then I remember that Jesus’ shed blood
brought me victory over sin and means that I don’t have
to remain a slave to sin. Now Jesus is smiling. Next, I tell God
that I am fully aware of my sin (as much as He wants me to be
aware in this moment), and I let Him know that I am powerless
over my sin. The Holy Spirit is delighted to be the power I need
to humbly repent, and the whole Trinity experiences joy. The angels
join in too. Luke 15:7:
“I tell you that in the same way
there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.”
Humbly repenting is true repentance. Are you
missing out on this experience too? Do you show contempt for the
riches of His kindness, tolerance and patience? It is God’s
kindness that leads us to repentance. It is truly a beautiful
experience to humbly repent.
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