Turn Around
By Rick Ezell
"Repent therefore and return, that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19 NASB).
How often have you stopped at a gas station to ask for direction only to have the attendant say, "You're going in the wrong direction. You've got to turn around." To turn around is to repent.
Repentance finds its origin not in religion, but from a culture where people were essentially nomadic and lived in a world with no maps or street signs. It's easy to get lost walking through the desert where everything basically looks the same. One could walk and walk and eventually come to the realization they were going in the wrong direction. Turning around, they would head in the opposite direction. That's repentance.
Repentance does not mean to feel sorry, or to cry over, or to blame someone else for the wrongs in one's life. Repentance is the act of changing the direction in which the heart is inclined. It is a spiritual "about-face." It is a change of mind that calls for a change of way.
Repentance is the decision to turn from selfish desires and seek God. It is a genuine, sincere regret that creates sorrow and moves us to admit wrong and desire to do better. It is the becoming aware of the awesome love of God that motivates you to change. No one is happier than the one who has sincerely repented of wrong.
Sammy Tippet wrote, "If we are to experience the manifest presence of God's glory, we must repent. When Isaiah saw the glory of God in the Temple, he was driven to brokenness, confession, and repentance. Too many in the West desire to know the manifest love of God without the manifest holiness of God. We have lost the message of repentance."
God desires change. That's his main business. We make the first move.
Copyright 2012, Rick Ezell.
Comments