The Secret Place: 21 Day DevotionalSample

AN UNREPENTANT BEING

Romans 2:5

Unrepentance is the sin of willfully remaining sinful, not feeling the need to change and having no remorse for wrongdoing. As we have learned, repentance is a change of mind that leads to a change of action. It is not simply seeking forgiveness (although that is part of it). Acts 11:8 tells us that repentance leads to life, and from our focus scripture today we see that unrepentance, or a non-willingness to repent, will lead to wrath. Those who remain unrepentant, live in a constant state of disobedience to God. King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, had something to say on the topic of unrepentance. In Proverbs 29:1 he wrote: Whoever remains stiffnecked after many rebukes will suddenly be destroyed - without remedy. The Message version puts it like this “For people who hate discipline, only get more stubborn and there’ll come a day when life tumbles in and they break, but by then it’ll be too late to help them.” Stubbornness in particular areas in our lives, can sometimes be the reason why aspects of our life can be in a downward spiral. The Holy Spirit has been tugging on our hearts to change, to stop to turn away from things that are weakening our lives. The Bible often uses the term ‘stiff-necked’ to describe the stubborn or unrepentant. In fact when reading the rest of Romans chapter 2, we learn that eternal life is given to those who genuinely seek to do good at all times and for those who remain unrepentant, there is indignation (outrage), wrath, tribulation and anguish.

Paul has made it very clear what is to come for those who remain unrepentant and it is not a pretty picture, because there is a judgement coming and the results of righteousness will be beautiful, but the consequences of unrepentance will be harsh. We must remember what the apostle John said in 1 John 1:6: “If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth.” We cannot claim to have true fellowship with the Lord and yet simultaneously continue to walk in sin and keep knowingly repeating the same sin. That is not a life that is led by the Spirit. To live a repentant life is to live a life that acknowledges the truth of God’s word. It is a life that says you believe in what God says and have a reverent fear of living unrepentantly. As Christians, living in such a way minimises the value of God’s sacrifice of His one and only Son, as that sacrifice was to cleanse us of the sin in which we continue to live. So of course living in such a way will only attract God’s wrath. We are fortunate, in that Romans 2:4 states that God is a God of forbearance and longsuffering and it states that His goodness will lead us to repentance. So if you are struggling with repentance in an area of your life, if there is an attitude or habit that you cannot seem to turn away from, then this is the key.

Focus on God’s goodness, and this will be the path that leads you to repentance which will lead you to eternal life.