The Repentant Heart
March 7th 2024
Before going to bed, it hit me, God wants to stay in constant relationship with us because He loves us. He wants us to be like Him and do what is right and Nobel and kind because He is all good, all loving and all wonderful. We are not. We are selfish and sinful by nature (and only gotten worse over the years).
He can stay in a constant state of relationship with us only when we are in a constant state of repentance. We need this so we can stay in a constant state of flow with our Lord; so we can stay in commune with Him, hear from Him, be in good order with Him. Conversely, we need to because when we don’t, our heart hardens and His wrath will come down on those are unrepentant.
With the current state of our world, there may be a day sooner rather than later that we have a day of judgement is coming when He will have to sort out those who will be with Him in heaven and those who won’t. I was asking Him - how will you do this? He said to me, some of those you love will not be with you. Some of those you love think they are safe just because they are “good” but they do not repent for their sins, and I cannot do anything with them, I have no relationship with them, therefore, they cannot come to be with me.
Whoa... that hit me so hard!!! These would be people I love that I hold dear? If they know God but are unrepentant they cannot be with Him? (please note: this doesn’t mean they will be in hell, I don’t know what that means, I didn’t ask in the moment)
If you do not repent, it’s hard to stay in relationship with God. However, recently, I was listening to a podcast and heard a verse and clung to it so hard! Psalm 19: 12-13 Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden sins. Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgression. This verse immediately helped me so much!! I meditate on it constantly now… I was raised hearing “you are still guilty of sin that you commit even if you don’t know it’s a sin. And you can’t be forgiven until you figure those sins out and confess them.” So imagine how good i have felt for 35 years that I will need to come up with 42 years of sins to confess!!! That “fact” has wrecked me all these years, even as an adult!!! But this verse!!!! This verse was something even the psalmist knew thousands of years ago and it helps cleanse us all, even now!!! Even you and me!!!!
What a blessing it is that we can claim His word and we know it will NEVER COME BACK VOID! And that is a fact you can take to the bank, friend.
Friends… repentance isn’t about dominion over you.
Repentance is about the ability to have a relationship with our sweet Lord. It isn’t even about being vulnerable to someone else. God is by definition the essence of LOVE. All He wants to do is love us. He does not want to judge you. He simply wants you to ask Him to forgive you so anything unclean can be removed and you can be with Him.
I think God gets a bad wrap a lot of times because sometimes He is presented in unkind ways. He simply wants to love… God is a gentlemen. He’ll never force you to do anything. You have to come the 90, then He goes the 100. He will not only meet you where you are, but take you all the places you want to go and never knew you could.