So I was reading devotions again tonight and WOW the gospel of Luke is quite something! (In a good way!) Man, Repentance is prominent and every passage, the need for it is everywhere, and it has to do with everything! Anyways, I wanted to share it with you, because it was beautiful!
Often times when we hear the message of repentance, or we should hear it. When we do hear it, how do we respond? Well, the passage of Luke tells us how to respond! It's awesome how God is so clear :)
In this passage, Jesus is talking about forgiveness. We are all familiar with this passage, the one about forgiving your brother seventy-times-seven. After the apostles heard this message they were amazed. This is the verse, verse 5: "And the apostles said to the Lord, 'Increase our faith'." This verse really stuck out to me. THIS IS HOW WE SHOULD RESPOND TO JESUS' TEACHING! The way we need to respond this is 'increase our faith.' Learning these truths, learning things that are challenging, THIS is what we do. WE BEG for JESUS to INCREASE OUR FAITH. This should be your only answer, your one answer, your one goal. When we hear about Repentance, Forgiveness, Grace, or anything else, we must say to Jesus, 'increase our faith.' OUR FAITH CANNOT REMAIN DEAD. WE CANNOT WANT OUR FAITH TO REMAIN DEAD. We must increase it, and we must ask God to increase it. SO today, pray to God, and ask him to Increase your FAITH!
Another way to respond to this was in verse 10. Its a way to respond with a truth attached. "....We are unworthy slaves; we have done only that which we ought to have done." What does this verse say? First that we are UNWORTHY SLAVES. THIS ALONE should make us repent and fall back to God. This is how we must respond to God though. The first thing we should do, especially when we have accomplished something, is say 'we are unworthy slaves'. To harsh? NO. TO REPENT you have to start with ground zero. WE ARE UNWORTHY. We don't even deserve to be called slaves. We have to feel contrite about our sins and for that to happen we need to be ground zero all the time. Repentance is humility.
The Second point in this passage can be found in 7-10. But the sentence is enough to know. "we have done only that which we ought to have done." Keep it fresh in your mind all the time. We as Christians only do what we ought to do. What can we personally give to God? What we do everyday, is what we ought to do anyways. And guess what? We don't even do A FOURTH of what we ought to do. NO EXCUSES HERE! Unfortunately with our sin nature we can't be what we were intended to be. We can't be even close. How can we give to God, when we can't even do what we ought to do? We HAVE TO REPENT. It's what its ALL ABOUT! Everything leads there.
Lastly, I just wanted to point out something. It doesn't necessarily have to do with Repentance, but it was an interesting find. We as Christians, know that there is a narrow road that leads to righteousness and a broad road that leads to destruction. We often ask ourselves who is saved? How many? With all this truth, all this sin, all this failure, how can we be saved? Unfortunately I don't have that answer for you. I can tell you now that no one does. But the bible often has clues that we don't see. Well in the passage there is the story about the lepers who sought Jesus, but only one of them gave glory to God. vs. 17-18"And Jesus answered and said, "Were there not ten cleansed? But the nine-where are they? Was no one found who turned back to give glory to God, except this foreigner?" Notice the numbers. 1 of 10 came back. These aren't exact statistics, but just think about it. One came back...only one. I fear that today there are only few 'ones'. I believe the statistics have risen...more like 1 in 500. I do not believe that is exaggerating either. Think about it though. Would you be the one to come back? What would make you the one God chose to be the one who would give glory to him? Think about it..
Anyways, I wanted to share that with you. Just those thoughts. We ARE slaves doing only what we ought to do. Today I encourage you, lets go the extra mile! Lets do what we are supposed do, ALONG with whatever else we can do! LET US BE THE ONES WHO TURNED BACK and gave GLORY to GOD. Lets give glory to the MIGHTY COUNCILOR, EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE OF PEACE for he deserves it!!!
And I urge you to REPENT. Because in humility and broken hearts we allow God to come in. Why? Because when we are broken, we have the feeling of emptiness. "I've sinned so much. I can't get out of it.. what hope is there?" There is hope in God. When we have that emptiness, we need to ask God to fill it. And as John Piper said, "God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in him." Be satisfied in him in these next days. LET HIM FILL THE VOID THAT SIN LEAVES. You'll find God's peace when you do that. SO REPENT AND BE FORGIVEN. REJOICE FOR THE GIFT OF REPENTANCE AND LIVE YOUR LIFE TO GLORIFY GOD!
Have an awesome day and may everything you do be for his glory!
~Hannah
No comments:
Post a Comment