Tag: Repent

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When it’s time, it’s time.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Then God stirred the hearts of the priests and Levites and the leaders of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple of the Lord. And all their neighbors assisted by giving them articles of silver and gold, supplies for the journey, and livestock. They gave them many valuable gifts in addition to all the voluntary offerings. Ezra‬ ‭1‬:‭5‬-‭6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

One of the beautiful, but difficult mysteries about God is His impeccable timing. It is always perfect! We see God make promises, prophetic words of what will happen and we believe Him. We even trust him. But it is rarely about IF something will happen, it’s about WHEN it will happen.

God has been thoroughly, transparently trustworthy throughout all of human history. But even as we see how God fulfills his Word, we also get a peek at how long it takes for His promises to be fulfilled. Whether it’s 400 years, 70 years or 450 years – we forget because our lives are nowhere that long. Every generation waits for these amazing, global promises to be fulfilled, but only specific generations get to actually witness the results! And, even then, our hearts and minds, along with an inability to keep the stories of God’s promises alive, we become dull, even forgetful.

God has Ezra, the high priest and chief scribe announce the end of the 70 years of timeout and the good news that the Jews could return to their homeland and begin rebuilding what previous Babylonian rulers had destroyed. The temple, and as we know from Nehemiah, the walls surrounding Jerusalem were all in shambles. I find it an interesting, a very human clue that Ezra tells us in these verses about returning and rebuilding.

God prompts King Cyrus of Persia that it’s time to send the Jewish people home! This whole first chapter is about God loading up the people with vast amounts of riches, not only replacing what was taken by King Nebuchadnezzar but even given much much more. God had Israel’s enemies discipline His people and then had those enemies finance the entire rebuilding process! Wow.

Here in verse five, Ezra writes something unique. He says, “God stirred the hearts…” of the priests and Levites. The fire, the drive, the patience of the spiritual leaders of Israel had all been sapped! Much of these priests and Levites were appointed while in captivity. Ezra was born while in captivity – it’s all he knew. It’s not surprising, as God’s word comes to Ezra, that God himself would need to jumpstart the hearts of the leaders of Israel, giving them hope that rebuilding was even a possibility. They had all heard the stories of what got them to Babylon, but had no real sense of when it would be over and they would be returning home.

I love this simple verse because it reminds me of how much loss we (The Church) have experienced over the past 25 years. And even through Jesus himself prophesied that these days would come in ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭24‬:‭4‬-‭12‬, saying “Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold,” we have never really known WHEN – the timing of the final, final days. Since Jesus spoke those words over 2000 years ago, there have been many cycles and seasons of these signs of the “end times.” And, to each generation that experienced it, it was determined that it MUST BE THE END! I believe that this season has been the worst loss of faith and people walking away from Jesus ever. And so many faithful people just flat out gave up the gathering of the Church. Statistically it is true – there has not been a time like this.

But I also believe that God will once again pour out His Spirit, supernaturally speaking to the hearts of those who have believed the lies and experienced immense loss of hope and deep depression. I believe God will sovereignly stir the hearts of the broken and they will turn their hearts towards home! God’s grace and ability to woo the hearts of those He loves is powerful and effective to accomplish His will. We, as Jesus’ bride, the Church p, should be ready to embrace the broken and with open arms to welcome them into His grace. We should all be REUNION READY!

Prayer

​Dad,
I am so glad you still stir hearts! I am one who was fortunate enough to be a part of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the 70’s and I remember how powerful it was to hear your voice, repent, receive forgiveness and a new life in Christ. I virtually knew nothing about the Bible, but you saved me and began disciplining me to be like Jesus! If you can do this for me I know you will do this again for so many. Pour Your Spirit out Oh sovereign Lord, save us from ourselves and our desires to be our own God!

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Think Different.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

”Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News. “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!”“ Mark‬ ‭1‬:‭14‬-‭15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Mark’s gospel quickly references Jesus being baptized, then a brief sentence about Jesus going out into the wilderness to be tempted, saying nothing about fasting for forty days. Mark gets right to it.

When Jesus came into Galilee, a favorite location on the shore of the lake, he immediately announces the Kingdom of God was near, it’s coming, he says! The four gospels are called gospels because of what Jesus said. Jesus preached the good news. He says he brings “euaggélion: – the Gospel – literally, “God’s good news.”” This amazing Greek word that comes from the root word, “euaggelizó,” meaning a messenger of goodness or wellness. It’s where we get the word “evangelist,” or “evangelize” or “evangelical” – those words have some powerful, cultural connotations! How far we have fallen when “evangelical” has been redefined as a political, social group instead of the real meaning of bringing a good message?

Jesus came on the scene announcing that the fulfillment of God’s plan was here at last. And, if we think about it, a longtime promise fulfilled is a joyous occasion, right? Proverbs reminds me, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a dream fulfilled is a tree of life.” (13:12). Jesus was saying the time had finally arrived, the earth itself and all nature groaned in anticipation of that day – and so did the Jewish people (Romans 8:22).

Jesus told us what to do when this good news of God’s Kingdom became a reality. Repent of our sins and believe. What does repentance have to do with receiving and believing this fulfillment of a very long promise? We’ve always seen “repentance” as a religious word, a spiritually powerful word, laden with stereotyped-stories and pictures of wearing gunnysacks and whipping ourselves. At least that’s what comes to mind for me. If you’ve been a churched person, in a protestant expression, you know that repentance has not been taught that way. But even in the protestant tradition, repentance is still seen as a physically humbling act of emotional tears and deep sorrow. I get it, that’s not a bad response for realizing what a turd I’ve been and the awful destructive things I’ve done.

Jesus was joyfully announcing another picture. It’s more like the picture of someone who has driven several miles past their exit on the freeway and realized they were not paying attention and are heading the wrong direction! Have you ever done that? If you’re alone, you just angrily beat yourself up for being so unaware. But what do we do then? We exit, we figure out how to get back on the freeway, going the opposite direction. We’ve have turned around to get to our intended destination. This is what the original Greek word, “metanoéō” means. It’s two words, “after-effects” and “thinking,” – think differently afterwords. It’s been described as a 180° turn around because it’s easy to understand, but it really means “the effects of changing our minds.”

Of course we have to change our minds if we are going to even begin to understand what God has really done for us! We absolutely better think and behave DIFFERENTLY after we see our sin and the consequences of what it has done in us and others. Steve Jobs, in 1997, came out with Apple’s grand-slam marketing slogan, “Think Different,” but that wasn’t really his idea. It was Jesus who said, think different and believe the good news. Salvation, rescue, exoneration has come to save us from ourselves and free us from prison of pursing whatever we feel like doing, no matter the consequences. This was and still is explosive, headline news! Think different and believe. Hmmm, sounds catchy.

Prayer

Dad,
Sometimes I hardly recognize myself! I’ve got a long ways to go in looking like Jesus, but I have come so far since I first believed. I am not who I was, but still not completely who I want to be. I find it interesting that I’ve had many times I still need to repent. Not just of sin, but realizing that I wasn’t going in a godly direction and had to think different to change that. I am so thankful for your amazing good news. It has definitely changed me, my life, and those around me. This whole experience of repentance and belief has been the greatest thing ever to happen to me.

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Value people for the win.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“So watch yourselves! “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive. Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.” Luke‬ ‭17:3-4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Jesus, in “red letter words” talks openly about sin. He does not do so as often as you might think. But here Luke records Jesus talking about it with some warnings. Seventeen opens with, “There will always be temptations to sin….” Then after reminding us that being a temptER is worse, Jesus lays out the warning, “watch yourselves!” What a thought. We spend a lot more time and energy watching OTHERS do their sin, than we do our own sin. It makes laugh when Jesus says, “IF” another sins. I think it’s more like “when,” right Jesus? 😬

Jesus uses this word that we have all kinds of stereotypes built around – REBUKE. Don’t we rebuke demons and our dogs? Sounds pretty harsh, right? It’s the word itself that fascinates me.

The Greek construction of this word is NOT match the imagery. The word is epitimaó: to honor, to mete out due measure, hence to censure. Properly, assign value as is fitting the situation, building on (Gk epi) the situation to correct (re-direct).

Its fundamental sense is “warning to prevent something from going wrong.” Think about this. The word comes from two words, epi: on, upon and timaó: to fix the value, estimate. We’d recognize the word timaó because it comes from the word “time.” So this often seen as judgmental word is really a deep sense of valuing someone to help point out serious consequences completely in the framework of timing! In my granddaughter’s preschool class, her teacher has a “red choice” vs “green choice” system to help the children understand choices they already made. That they were helpful or not helpful, kind or unkind. But what if they had a “yellow choice” indicator just BEFORE the behavior happened? The timing of the yellow choice warning or “rebuke” would be seen as a helpful, valuable, even a loving action.

It’s not an example of sin, but it would be much like Robin warning me, while driving, when she’s sees a pedestrian coming into the crosswalk as I’m about to make a turn. Her warning, her “rebuke” is a timely and valued moment that prevents me from hitting, thus hurting another.

Notice the order in which Jesus gives us this wisdom of God. If another believer sins (clearly just for Christ followers) – it’s already happened. The timely and valued warning is helpful for breaking a pattern that will absolutely lead to relationship breeches between us and God and us with one another! I think that’s why Jesus chases that truth with this. “Even if it happens seven times a day.” Well, there’s a fine “terrible two’s” scenario! I have to be vigilant and consistent MORE THAN ONCE. Yep. Oh, I hear you. If you were to say, “but what if they (we) don’t WANT those timely and valued warnings when they (we) are in process or planning of SIN! And, you’d be right. The warning, the rebuke, even when spoken in grace, is often taken as controlling or judging or even meddling in our private affairs.

Ah, that’s why we really don’t like the word! There’s a real possibility of someone flashing the yellow choice option, but they (we) REALLY want to ignore it. BTW, when Jesus says, “if” there is repentance, think of it in terms of not just being sorry… sorry would not have helped me or the person I hit in the crosswalk. The best way to look at repentance is exactly what the word means – metanoeó, “change one’s mind.” Thus, changing one’s behavior.

Prayer

Dad,
It seems like this conversation of unity, cooperation, mutual benefit and trust are much more difficult in a divided culture and specifically a community of believers. How can we trust each other to handle our lives, decisions and behaviors with this timely, valued warning? Most of the body of Christ perceives that “judging” anyone or anything is wrong and should be avoided. This makes rebuking almost impossible without massive drama and blowback. Have we, have I, isolated ourselves into a dark corner of self where we are not just alone in our sin, but also alone in seeing the blind spots we all have?This is really a sad situation we’ve gotten into. Will you help us (me) to remember that you know what you’re talking about and trust you in your eternal wisdom? Even when this whole topic feels like we are walking on eggshells, and fearing co-dependent reactions?

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Fake rainbows.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me. Let all Israel repeat this: From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me, but they have never defeated me. My back is covered with cuts, as if a farmer had plowed long furrows. But the Lord is good; he has cut me free from the ropes of the ungodly.” Psalms‬ ‭129:1-4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It is true, that from the time of Israel’s birth, back in the days of Abraham, the founding father, it is evident that the world, their enemies have been against them. And, reflecting back to 400 years of Egyptian slavery, their backs, as a collective illustration, are covered with lashes received as slaves back in this early years and metaphorically even today. Israel has been used as a the whipping post for the global animosities against the people of God, even against God himself. As Israel makes yet another trip back up to Jerusalem, there are many reflections for the way back home. Yes, Israel was disciplined and taken away specifically for their sins, their arrogant and very public flaunting of idols mixed with sexual, physical and sacrificial offerings to wooden poles creepy little stone-carved idols that sat in prominence in their homes.

Israel, like all prodigal sons and daughters did the shame-walk back home. Yet, through this very long and sad cyclical story, it is undeniable that we see ourselves – all of humanity living out this very same pattern. We want, we desire, we frolic after fancy things. We search, we run to and fro, from promise to promise that this pole, or that carving, this high or experience, these gods will fulfill and give us everything we desire!

We, like Israel, like the psalmist could say, “from my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me.” The enemy is very real and very alluring, but the end results are ALWAYS the same. Brokenness, sin and shame await at the end of the fake rainbow. The enemy of our souls and of God delight in us finding broken promises of happiness and, of all things, freedom. We constantly struggle to be free of this presence of a holy God, so we run towards a gleeful captor ready to slap on the cuffs or ropes of slavery.

It is then that all the warnings, pleas and truth begin to dawn on us. Like Pinocchio found out on the island of pleasure, it was all a lie. Like Christian, in Pilgrim’s Progress, who seeks paradise but only finds detours, yet never releasing his burden and only increases it.

All of us are welcome to come to the same place the psalmist describes. The place where we see that God is good and can permanently CUT the ropes of the ungodly. For those searching for real freedom, not fake, flashy, self-fulling nonsense – but real and eternal freedom. There is but one way, the only way. That is through Jesus Christ and his gift of death, of salvation, of redemption, of transformation offered to pay for that freedom. But it requires our very life to be given in exchange!

Prayer

Dad,
The return to what’s good and right is a tough one. It feels so good to “come clean,” and rid the backpack of burdened sin and stupidity. It also feels so humiliating to return to the right path. Oftentimes I have seen my friends treated so badly when they wander, or even blow up their lives and families, knowing full well that judging them this way makes it near impossible to come home, returning to community. This walk back to Jerusalem is Israel’s shame walk, but at some point in our lives, it’s everyone’s walk. Help us love folks through their sin and welcome them when they’ve come home. We need your extraordinary, lavished grace to embrace.