Post by solitarysoul on Mar 6, 2007 9:54:59 GMT -5
"Repentance" - Devotion for March 5th, 2007
Today's Scripture
"And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the eath; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them ." - Genesis 6:7
Today's Word
One of the biggest and sometimes most difficult characteristics of being a born again Christian is the issue of repentance. Our pride gets in the way and we don't like to admit sometimes that we are wrong. But is there a deeper meaning here?
In verse 7 of the 6th chapter of Genesis, God is talking about how man has rebelled and turned away from Him, instead turning to a lifestyle of sin. He plans to destory mankind with the great flood, and warns Noah and his family, the only one that God found favor in, to build the ark to save him and the animals. But if you look at the last part of this verse, God says that he repents of making man.
When we speak of repentance, we usually are talking about being honest about something we have done wrong, and asking God to forgive us. But we know that God is perfect. He does nothing wrong. So clearly the issue of repentance is deeper than we often realize if God Himself repented as well.
The truth is, repentance is a feeling in our heart of being sorry for something we have done. If we are just casually talking to God and we mention our sins and ask for forgiveness because we know they are wrong and we hope to go to Heaven, we are not truly repenting. It is not honest repentance of our sins if we do not have a real desire in our hearts to change our ways, even though we are consciously asking God to forgive us.
Our character is not a matter of what we say, it is a matter of what we think and feel. We are not geniune in our faith if we simply tell God what we know we should be telling Him. The real matter of repentance is from the heart.
If God Himself repented of making man before the great flood, then obviously repentance is not simply an issue of being right or wrong. Repentance is a true feeling in the heart of being sorry for something you have done. Even regreting doing something. We should not come to God in repentance just because we know we are suppose to. When we repent it should be because we truly feel sorry for what we have done.
However, this of course does not mean that it is ok to sin if you do not feel sorry for it. Spiritual maturity does not happen automatically, it takes effort and a conscious commitment to becoming more like Christ. We know the difference in right and wrong, and we have the Bible so that we will know what it is to sin and what it is to be like Christ. So we should use these resources and always repent of our sins, but most importantly we need to keep in mind that such repentance is only geniune if we truly feel sorry for what we have done.
As Christians we should love God above everything else. So therefore if we do, then we must feel guilty and horrible for sinning, doing anything that hurts God, even if we personally see nothing wrong with it. So the key is to put our focus on Him, so that when we do sin, we repent from our hearts not because we know it is what we are suppose to say, but because we truly feel sorry for hurting who we love more than anything else.
Copyright © 2007 T. Scott Morgan | www.the-daily-blessing.com
Please feel free to forward this message on as much as you like, as long as this copyright stays intact and the devotion is not altered.
This devotion may NOT be redistrubuted for profit.
Today's Scripture
"And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the eath; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them ." - Genesis 6:7
Today's Word
One of the biggest and sometimes most difficult characteristics of being a born again Christian is the issue of repentance. Our pride gets in the way and we don't like to admit sometimes that we are wrong. But is there a deeper meaning here?
In verse 7 of the 6th chapter of Genesis, God is talking about how man has rebelled and turned away from Him, instead turning to a lifestyle of sin. He plans to destory mankind with the great flood, and warns Noah and his family, the only one that God found favor in, to build the ark to save him and the animals. But if you look at the last part of this verse, God says that he repents of making man.
When we speak of repentance, we usually are talking about being honest about something we have done wrong, and asking God to forgive us. But we know that God is perfect. He does nothing wrong. So clearly the issue of repentance is deeper than we often realize if God Himself repented as well.
The truth is, repentance is a feeling in our heart of being sorry for something we have done. If we are just casually talking to God and we mention our sins and ask for forgiveness because we know they are wrong and we hope to go to Heaven, we are not truly repenting. It is not honest repentance of our sins if we do not have a real desire in our hearts to change our ways, even though we are consciously asking God to forgive us.
Our character is not a matter of what we say, it is a matter of what we think and feel. We are not geniune in our faith if we simply tell God what we know we should be telling Him. The real matter of repentance is from the heart.
If God Himself repented of making man before the great flood, then obviously repentance is not simply an issue of being right or wrong. Repentance is a true feeling in the heart of being sorry for something you have done. Even regreting doing something. We should not come to God in repentance just because we know we are suppose to. When we repent it should be because we truly feel sorry for what we have done.
However, this of course does not mean that it is ok to sin if you do not feel sorry for it. Spiritual maturity does not happen automatically, it takes effort and a conscious commitment to becoming more like Christ. We know the difference in right and wrong, and we have the Bible so that we will know what it is to sin and what it is to be like Christ. So we should use these resources and always repent of our sins, but most importantly we need to keep in mind that such repentance is only geniune if we truly feel sorry for what we have done.
As Christians we should love God above everything else. So therefore if we do, then we must feel guilty and horrible for sinning, doing anything that hurts God, even if we personally see nothing wrong with it. So the key is to put our focus on Him, so that when we do sin, we repent from our hearts not because we know it is what we are suppose to say, but because we truly feel sorry for hurting who we love more than anything else.
Copyright © 2007 T. Scott Morgan | www.the-daily-blessing.com
Please feel free to forward this message on as much as you like, as long as this copyright stays intact and the devotion is not altered.
This devotion may NOT be redistrubuted for profit.