Why Is Repentance So Hard?
Good Morning Friends,
Well, we are into Lent and have been reading a lot of Old Testament scripture on obedience and repentance. And it should begin to soak in from the story of Jonah that there is nothing that can separate us from the power of God’s forgiveness and redemptive grace except ourselves. So, we need to not be a stumbling block on our own recovery. For friends, we need to believe that if we seek the Lord we will receive the power to begin anew and maximize our potential in life.
The problem is that our culture has forgotten how to repent and how to nurture a repentant heart to get close enough to God to ask for help. We wonder if there anything we can do to accommodate the Holy Spirit’s work of convicting us of sin and leading us into truth without shaming us to avoid the issue of our false loves altogether. It makes us wonder with a deeper consideration. Why Is Repentance So Hard?
Scripture: Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Listen to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. Come now, let us argue it out, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be like snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
Isaiah 1:10, 16-20 (NRSV)
Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.
Matthew 23:1-12 (NRSV)
This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty, and did abominable things before me; therefore I removed them when I saw it.
Ezekiel 16:49-50 (NRSV)
Message: Well whatever your sin, and I am pretty sure you have not given up on sinning completely, it is not half as bad, (not that you can rank sin), as the sins in these places called Sodom and Gomorrah. Impenitent sin, inhospitality does not even begin to represent the dehumanizing acts of abuse these cities’ residents desired on the holy visitors of Lot. No wonder Abraham was concerned. No wonder God got pissed off. This place once described as being like Eden was about to be consumed by its own sin. At this point Lot, who had chosen this land over all of Israel, was probably wondering what happened to this place that had such great potential but turned out so rotten. That Lot’s neighbors were intent on gang raping his guests and that Lot offered his virgin daughters as an alternative tells us just how depraved this culture had become. The reality is that the wealth of area had turned people into their worst selves. They were rich, unconcerned and self-centered. Sound familiar? The thing is that it was hard for them to repent for the same reasons it is hard for us. We do not want our weakness exposed. We do not want our brokenness scorned. We would rather fear people instead of God. Here the love of independence opposes the authority of God. Here in arrogance we want to be as God. And we even fail to believe that God’s goodness, kindness, and steadfast love toward us can help us overcome our situations. All this, that can be summarized as pride for it is what makes repentance so hard. But make no mistake, repentance is a much better than judgement. Repentance empowers us to become better. Billy Graham spent a whole career preaching on repentance. He thought it that important and maybe this Lent we should too.
Pray we learn from Jesus how to reason things out spiritually. Pray we realize that no matter how dark it gets there is still hope for mercy and room for redemption. Pray we consider sins impact on our souls. Pray we realize that we owe God complete obedience. Pray we consider God’s goodness. Pray we think about God as our redeemer. Pray we practice what we preach so revival and spiritual awakening might occur.
Pray we get a glimpse of God in our acts of repentance so we might move forward. Pray we experience the beauty of repentance and choose to never look back on our sin. Pray we leave our sin at the foot of the cross and in that experience discover the power of repentance.
Blessings,
John Lawson
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