Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” Says the Lord of hosts. But you said, ‘In what way shall we return?’ Malachi 3:7
When we are seeking God, we must seek Him with our whole heart. We must then realize that repentance is not ony an option, but a requirement. In returning to the Lord means that we will forsake sin and obey what God he says. In the Old Testament, the nations of Israel and Judah repeatedly strayed from God. Each time this happened God would send a messenger to plead with the people to return to Him. Even in the New Testament, this message is prominent. Read Matthew 3:2, “For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’ ” and Matthew 4:17, ” From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” According to these two passages, both John the Baptist and Jesus preached repentance.
Let’s take a look at the book of Revelation. Read Revelation 2:5, 16, 21-22; 3:3, 19. What is the recurring exhortation that Jesus is giving to the churches? How often must a person repent to be in the right relationship with God? Only once, during special church services, daily, or at salvation and anytime God convicts the person of sin?
Acts 20:21 says, “testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Our repentance is daily. We are tempted daily to sin. We sometimes will yield to the temptation and choose to sin and others times will wont. When we truly belong to God, we will be humble and confess our sins and repent. We are life long repenters. Paul even rebuke the Corinthians in 7:9-11, “Now I rejoice, not that you were made sorry, but that your sorrow led to repentance. For you were made sorry in a godly manner, that you might suffer loss from us in nothing. For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death. For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”
What is the evidence that they repented? Based on this passage, how would you describe being remorseful over sin (worldly grief) and the genuine repentance (godly grief)? We must have a heart is will to forsake all sin in order to have a pure heart that glorifies God.
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you for loving us enough to show the sins in our lives. I pray that we will have a repentive heart. I pray that we will choose you and to obey you in all areas of our lives.
In Jesus Name
Amen
