February 17, 2025
I testified to both Jesus and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus. (Acts 20:21)
When I was a boy, there was a man who walked the downtown streets of our city with a double-sided signboard draped over his body. On one side it said, “REPENT!” and on the other, “TURN OR BURN!” I always appreciated his boldness, but it left me with only one thought about the beautiful gift of repentance.
REPENTANCE “FROM”
Repentance literally means a “change of mind.” We were thinking one way, but something has happened to show us the error of that thought. “Oh, I was wrong. I thought that way was valuable, that it was the best choice, but now I see I was in error.”
But spiritual repentance is even deeper. It is a gracious gift of the Spirit of God that helps us see, that opens our eyes to God’s reality. A humanistic response to our sin merely comes from humanistic ideas and will always produce a shallow, temporary repentance, but with little turning.
There is a repentance that is fatally flawed because it is not toward God. In some, there is a repentance of sin that is produced by a sense of shame … Others exhibit a repentance that consists entirely of horror at the future punishment of sin. But if such persons could be assured that no punishment would follow, they would continue in sin and not only be content to live in it but be delighted to have it so. (Spurgeon)
REPENTANCE “TOWARD”
But lasting repentance always has a different destination. It is not just repenting “from” sin, but “toward” God, as Paul preached. It is the Spirit-wrought conviction that I am missing the greatest thing. I have lost the sense of His presence because I have been distracted by other silly gods. I vainly thought they would satisfy, which is a lie. Recognizing the loss and all it means, I turn to God and naturally and gladly turn from my sin. I see about my sin what God sees, say about it what God, and respond to it like God responds.
Then, I look to Him and Him alone as my sole source. I realize He is the Vine and I am the branch and I can do nothing apart from Him. “I have no good besides You,” David said, and so here was his repentance, “I will set the Lord continually before me” (Psalm 16:2, 8). The wise King saw something of extraordinary value—the pearl of great price—and so he turned deliberately, humbly, and fully.
The repentant who finds God gains everything. “He who has God and everything else,” said C.S. Lewis, “has no more than he who has God alone.”
February 20, 2025
If you have questions about how real, how present, how personal and intimate the Lord is, then just read six words of travelogue in Luke’s journal as he traveled with Paul.
February 18, 2025
I have known many people who have had great joy and power in the midst of great suffering. It is humbling that the slightest inconveniences deter many of us from following God. We have not gotten to the bottom—settled the issue. Most often, we live for our comfort, reputation, or gain. When any of those goals are touched, we are troubled and discontent.
February 12, 2025
Repentance helps us. Repentance heals us. Repentance restores us and refreshes us. And these are all the outcomes a loving Father desires for His children.
