For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:10 NASB) This verse captures, in my opinion, a truth that escapes many. In fact, even the Elect, must cautiously examine our hearts, our intentions, & our motivations leading to true repentance. It is far easier to off-handedly, accept responsibility for any of our sinful actions, without deep introspection. The words, Im sorry tend to flow from our mouths without us ever honestly experiencing the God provided sorrow, necessary for genuine repentance. Our motives reveal the truth. Are we really sorry for the sins we have committed? The consequences affect not only ourselves, but those we cherish & love, & most importantly, offend the Creator of all that exists. Or, more frequently, do we pay lip service to the truth, deceiving ourselves, robbing ourselves of the opportunity to earnestly approach our King with a contrite heart, pleading guilty as charged, without excuse or defense, seeking His forgiveness & turning away from sin in Godly repentance? The sorrow of the world, Im afraid, is far more often witnessed. With this, we may express remorse & regret, however it is a shallow, self serving imitation of true, Godly sorrow. With this worldly type sorrow, we fail to realize our offense primarily offends our God. Yes, we may have hurt or offended a fellow creature, & they may accept our flippant apology, but God sees our heart, He sees through the smokescreens we produce. We fool ourselves into believing the words we utter, when weve been called on the carpet, are sufficient to erase the very commission of our actions. We never follow thru, confessing to God our failures & inability to do anything other than fail, in our own strength. The depth of sincerity, of our apology doesnt make up for our refusal to pursue guidance from our Savior, to truly repent. Why we struggle so hard, kicking against the goad, rather than trusting His promise of ALWAYS granting mercy, is a matter of pride. Our shortsightedness prevents our understanding that true forgiveness must come from above; that horizontal forgiveness is a wonderful thing, but vertical forgiveness, a necessity. We cannot/do not see beyond the consequences we experience, as a result of our sins, unless we go beyond, genuinely seeking His remission. The Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, willingly lay His life down, as a propitiation for each who would believe. A single drop of His precious blood is far more than enough to absolutely cleanse every sin, past, present, & future, from everyone who has ever existed, & shall ever exist. Access to this cleansing has also been provided. There is but one path, one door, one gate, that is through Jesus, Himself. Set aside pride, ego, denial, & deceit. Come clean before the Throne of the King, face down, at His nail scarred feet. He longs to grant real forgiveness, real healing, real comfort, & eternal life. He will not force Himself upon you, however, He is faithful to answer all who may come. My personal experience is that until I was able to genuinely seek His face, honestly seeing myself through the lens of Jesus Christ, I may have ceased thinking of my sins, but the resultant heavy burdens of guilt & shame were always with me. Stealing joy, suppressing spiritual growth, preventing real peace, & enslaving me to a lifetime of defeat. Once I understood, I found freedom. Freedom to live, to experience growth & peace, to taste the victory He has secured, & to truly love. Though consequences of sin continue in this life, my eternal existence is free of those things, awaiting my arrival. Until that day, I strive on, each day prayerfully seeking wisdom, guidance & His will.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 16:56:57 +0000
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