Salvation

Third times a charm…

Repentance: Turn yo’ self around foo!

Repentance sounds big and intimidating but it, like sins definition, is simple with its definition which is to change ones mind and attitude.  And while simple, its also one of the most profound actions you will take.  Repentance is an acknowledgment that you did not have the correct answer or perspective that created the actions you took and is specific to sin.  Repentance is rooted in humility (another unknown word) that basically means you have a correct perspective on your ignorance.

(Side Note: We all have ignorance of some sort.  Whether it is ignorance of a sport, or a subject, or a person, its all just a matter of a lack of information.  If analyzed correctly than no one can claim to be without ignorance and if we want to be fully transparent we are amazingly ignorant of many things to some degree.)

Humility must come before repentance because it births the correct perspective for repentance.  In contrast repentance is not sourced in guilt or shame although it may start there.  The difference being that guilt and shame are founded in the lie that you did what you did because you are a mistake, you are flawed with a doomed inevitable result to never experience true peace or joy.  Repentance with humility is foundational to a good life in Christ because its rooted in the knowledge and understanding that none of us are capable of matching the standard, it reflects a secure identity independent of anyones opinion (including our own), and that there is a force at work against us, one that is insidious in its ways.

The key word to focus on at this time is ‘capable.’  This brings us back to the standard that cannot be kept perfectly.  Its in this that men are easily mislead because we so often see life in terms of progress.  While this is true for many endeavors in life, in our nature there will always be this force acting against us which is sin in the human nature.  The God of all creation understands this and that is why grace has been given, why faith is so simple, and why God says you must be like children in that faith.  The best relatable example is in a parent and their child.  Mistakes are made and the role of raising a child means correction but correction in the understanding that we aren’t to punish the acts out of them, but to teach them to work through the mistakes with compassion. 

In our own lives it is a lighthearted way of life that lets go of this idea of extensively praising this perfect person we created in our minds or criticizing ourselves when our standard doesn’t meet the image of that perfect person.   This isn’t self deprecation either.  There is a balance that must be maintained that is sourced in a correct identity which fosters correct actions in the best and worst of times.  These include accepting faults or mistakes as they come, receiving forgiveness from them if they were avoidable, turning from the attitude that enabled those mistakes and moving forward without the weight of them.  This isn’t dulling or avoiding either and while it may be hard to comprehend the difference at times, the best example comes from a loving parent.  Every step listed above would be how the process would work with a parent raising a child but with the added element being the source of that parents heart in the matter: love.  Paul says there is faith, hope, and love but the greatest of the three is love.   That is why my goal is to have us do this together.  We may not be family or related by blood but with each other we can, if we choose, help each other in love.  Not avoid the steps or try and do them better than others, but truly walk this out together the best we can.  And everyday we will be able to hold onto the truths that God gives us a little better each day. 

You see, repentance is powerful because ultimately we have to change what and how we think of ourselves.  Too many times we will think of ourselves too highly when we shouldn’t.  This comes in the form of criticism of a coworkers action when we know we do the same acts or acts as near as makes no difference.  Or we think too poorly of ourselves.  This comes about in depression when any mistake is a searing wound that never seems to heal over time. 

Repentance is the tool used against pride.  Pride is what I believe to be the key factor in the great deception that will come over people not only at the end of days written in Revelation but also in the day to day reality we live out.  Its in pride that we find the root of blockage between us and God.  Sin is self oriented and pride is its banner that is displayed for all to see.  If I were to mark pride in an everyday sense: its that moment when the words that come out of your mouth YOU KNOW are going to be bullshit.  Its not necessarily acting out of hurt because a hurt person may still be humble enough to understand reactions will happen.  Pride will ignore the hurt and feed it rather than feel it.  Its comes down to a pretense that we don’t get hurt but hurt is a gift of immeasurable quality in my opinion.  Its also one I would choose never to experience.  Hurt means vulnerability and at the core its just a small child that is lost and alone.  We will talk more about this in time.  

Jesus speaks often of repentance in what is called the gospel or good news.  Why is that?  Repentance is needed in order to act upon hearing the good news in its fullness: repentance means you received the fullness of what God has done.  It is the choice of the God of all creation, -infinite in understanding, wisdom, and power, peerless in perfection, absolute in dedication and patience- to show you mercy.  As said in Romans:

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, then the Gentile.” Romans 1:16 BSB

But why would he do that?  Because He is a Father.  He is our Father as Jesus tells us in the gospels so may times.  The need of repentance should be apparent as well as the criteria for it at this stage but repentance has one more element that is needed for us to be able to truly accept this truth in our hearts: we must know the desire of God.

A father, if true to what a father is in his purest form, lives to serve and raise, love and prepare, discipline and teach, encourage and inspire, console and comfort.  What he is and does is to desire the best for his children.  He is the leader in example and wisdom, one who prepares his children for life outside of the home.  He allows mistakes and errors in order for his children to come to him for that wisdom on what to do differently.  But crucially they come to him because of his love and acceptance of who they are despite what they do.  This doesn’t mean a child cannot push himself away from a father, as did the prodigal son, but it also means the love from the father will always be there when the son or daughter decides to come back.  An amazing parable Jesus teaches us in Luke 15:11-31 with the hero being the father who, when seeing his son far off, runs to him to embrace him.  Should we all be present of mind to come back to God and experience Him doing the exact same thing for us…

This may be hard for anyone to understand and will create much debate because of the personal experience with fathers and I will say this one thing to that effect: there is a reason it hurts to hear.

Truth:  The level of passion or emotion (and thus animosity and conflict) in certain subjects comes from the degree of importance those subjects have.

If we talk about the weather or the choice of salad dressing we do so with little passion or degree of emotion.  Passion and emotion rise as we talk about those car accidents we were in, a debilitating sickness, or even the death of a loved one and rightly so for obvious reasons.  The point being is that the level of passion and emotion is foundational and thus proportional and crucial to the nature of the subject.  This is true not only personally but true for everything in creation.   What I mean is that the level of debate, disagreement, anger, etc to what I said about fathers and the fact that God is a perfect father simply means it is a crucially important aspect to the fabric of life.  So much so that to attempt to eliminate fathers or fatherhood (whether in the family, in history, in schools, in literature, movies, etc) causes a degradation of the structure as the whole.  To eliminate the need for a father may as well eliminate the need for air.  And that truth will boil blood in people but the fact that it does boil blood is the exact evidence needed to support its importance.  The degree to the outrage is fueled directly with the need that was never met.  Give a person a long enough time to tell their story and the tragedy of an imperfect or absent father will be at the root of it.  

Salvation

With all that was explained in regard to sin and repentance I hoped to illustrate a picture of the need for salvation.  As Paul said in Romans the gospel is the Power of God for salvation.  To state the obvious: Jesus came for a reason.  If after all this you begin to understand the inevitability of the pain that comes with life then you have to ask if a solution is possible?  When it comes down to it its either to continue in sin; to basically just do what you have been doing all your life or its repentance which means to stop and turn around in some way in regards to the standard that was lost.  You decide to do something different.  Its not just anything and categorically the varied choices will fall under similar banners in some way like leaves narrowing down to branches, and in turn down to trunks.  You could stop drinking and just start overspending.  You could stop thrill seeking but take up golf and waste money all the same.  You could stop buddhism and pick up tarot cards.  

In the end you have to stand back from everything and for a moment come to the end of yourself, your understanding, and your ability.  The gospel is the good news in all literalness.  It isn’t news because its intuitive to us but must be heard just as any other news.  Maybe this moment is your ‘hearing’ if you are reading this.  The good news is that God exists, every person has fallen short of what God would have for them, Jesus came to save by restoring the balance with His own body and blood, and now everyone has free reign to accept what has been given without any cost.  

I really can’t remark on what this looks like in general because each person has their own moment when accepting the gospel.  I have heard of lights from above, musical notes seen visually, heat and warmth, oceans of tears, limbs growing back, rides home showing up out of nowhere, pretty much every sort of testimony that equates to the number of people alive.  Mine has been a slow and steady process.  A series of revelations over time brought to life through real life experiences and in a wide array of mediums from astronomy to leaves falling, from sermons to movies, from pain and loss to joyful times, from restored memories to restored relationships.  No one can convince me that God doesn’t exist, the evidence is too overwhelming in my own life, the lives of those around me, and in all creation itself.  But that being true it also never made the lessons any easier to understand at times.  It didn’t make the harder times less painful.  It never made owning mistakes easier.  It just made all of these events worthwhile because nothing has to work out in the moment for it to work out in the end.  It was never my responsibility to make things fit, only to fill my part when asked.   

Philippians 1:3-6 BSB

I thank my God every time I remember you. In every prayer for all of you, I always pray with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

The reward is adoption, sonship, a family, a home, and a purpose.  Its not a club but a family and fortunately its not one you can give back or indeed would want to.  An adoption is the choice of the parent and they wont un-adopt just because the child decided not to be apart of that family.  My opinion is not to take the decision too lightly but whether you grasp the magnitude of it or not, you aren’t the one worthy of it and will do nothing to earn it otherwise (or ever if we are being honest).  

Its not a mistake to accept Jesus simply by deciding you aren’t perfect, that you will fail at trying to be so, that it turns out you kind of suck at a lot of important things, you need help to not suck, you want to do and think differently, you want life to be better, more successful, abundant, fun, and well what do you have to lose?  Over thinkers, please do not lose heart when you will not only make this decision once but numerous times anytime the winds of indecision and insecurity blows across the bow of the good ship Hot Mess.  You are ok and will be so don’t take too much stock in what you decide at one moment which may be lost in another but like the scripture I chose to frame this blog you will not find a place anywhere in creation God isn’t.

I wanted these first blogs to be a sort of backdrop for what is to come with Overthinkers Guide to Following Jesus.  The reason being is that I think we hide all these realities from ourselves.  These are core truths to our existence and while depressing in the reception of them I feel deep down we already know them intimately.  But, like most things we attempt, we stop just before the good part.  Stay tuned for more to this guide on varying subjects and please let me know what you think, learned, are confused by, what you had for lunch, etc.

Thank you.