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Day 7 –  Enter into a life of holiness by repentance.

To enter into a life of holiness it is necessary to live a life of repentance.

REFERENCE VERSES:

Psalm 139:23-24

23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts.

24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Psalm 19:13

13 Keep your servant also from wilful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless, innocent of great transgression.

REFLECTIONS:

Read Psalm 139:23-24 and Psalm 19:13 and take a moment to respond to the following questions: 

➤ What do these two verses show us about David’s attitude towards God?

➤ Take a moment to pray Psalm 139:23-24.  

CONTENT:

We often consider repentance as something negative and we associate it with faults and a certain form of guilt. This is so far from reality. In fact, repentance is something that is extremely positive and joyful. There is no accusation, nor punishment and even less guilt in repentance. To repent is the action that should naturally follow becoming aware of our sin and our separated state from God. It is simply recognising things before God and asking Him for forgiveness, while agreeing to separate oneself from this sin. When we have repented, we continue to walk with God in His projects and His will. In fact, repentance is nothing other than the key to living the Kingdom of God (cf. Matthew 4:17).

Repentance is a key in the life of a disciple and it isn’t something that we do once and for all, we need to do it on a regular basis. Our flesh, our human nature, is weak and always leans towards moving away from God (cf. Galatians 5:17). To repent isn’t always repeating the same thing, it is to continue to live in this dimension of renouncing oneself in order to live for Christ by choosing to separate our self from everything that separates us from God and His will. Sometimes people will say something like, “I know that it isn’t God’s will, but I don’t want to change, or I don’t have the choice, or I don’t want to let go of it, or even, I want to continue”.

This sort of position is dangerous because in reality it is a voluntary and deliberate disobedience to the Holy Spirit. The fact of knowing the truth and not wanting to submit to God’s will leads to covering ourselves up little by little in a shell and losing sensitivity to the Holy Spirit. And only the Holy Spirit can lead us to a real conviction of sin which leads to a true repentance. It is for this reason that it is important to never upset Him and to know how to ask Him for forgiveness for our rebellious and difficult attitudes. It is vital that we always know how to keep our heart open and sensitive to the Holy Spirit, because He is our friend, our partner, He who leads us in all truth (cf. John 16:13).

The Bible tells us that David was a man after a God’s heart (cf. Acts 3:22) and it is he who wrote the two psalms above. David was not somebody who was perfect, far from it, and the Bible clearly tells us about some of his sins, such as adultery, premeditated murder, lies etc. But God said that he was a man after His own heart. Why? Quite simply because he had a constant desire to please God and that his life was close to His (cf. Psalm 139:23-24). He was ready to question himself and allow God to search his heart to show him his errors and where he was lacking. This is what led him to pray to repent before God, even for sins that he wasn’t even aware of (cf. Psalm 19:13). And this psalm, like all the others, wasn’t just a prayer, but rather more a spiritual state and a model of prayer for us all.

It is exactly this attitude of heart that God is still looking for today in our lives. We need to become men and women after His heart. It is important that these same prayers can be stirred up in our hearts like a cry towards God. It can also be good to sometimes invest regularly in times of fasting and prayer, as moments set apart to allow the Holy Spirit to search our lives and transform us so that we can be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

It’s the moment to live in the fullness of the Kingdom of God by making repentance a lifestyle choice, and why not start now?

MY DECISION:

➤ What I have understood for my own personal life. 

➤ What I am deciding to do in my life based upon what I have just learnt.

➤ What you decide to do today will determine who and what you will be tomorrow!

FOOTER:

Adapted from "un disciple en marche" copyright 2018 by Luc Favre, published by Vie Victorieuse.  All rights reserved.  Available at www.vievictorieuse.org