....They turn their backs on me, but in times of trouble
they cry out to me,
‘Come and save us!’ (Jeremiah
2:27 NLT)
Jeremiah
was speaking about the fickle nature of Israel of his day. His words should teach us that even our
repentance can have a self-serving character to it.
In my early
years as a Christians I used to preach at a county jail near my home. I noticed that same prisoners would return
and be incarcerated over and over again.
I listened to their stories and watched as big crocodile tears rolled
down their cheeks. Oh yes, they were sorry.
They were upset that they had gotten caught and sad that they were in
jail. They were distressed about the
consequences of their actions but were they sorry for their sin? I don’t think so. If they were they would have stopped what
they were doing that repeatedly landed them back behind bars.
True
repentance always starts with God. King
David, a man that knew how to take responsibility for his wrongdoings, got it
right. Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”..... (2 Samuel 12:13). First and foremost we always sin against
a kind and merciful God. The prisoners
in this story never grasp that they were rebelling against the reasonable and
loving requirements of a God who was only out for their highest good.
Therefore, their remorse never brought lasting change to their behavior.
Worldly sorrow
is all about us. What is in it for me?
Godly sorrow is brokenhearted over what our sin does to a good and kind
heavenly Father. One motivation leads to
death and the other to life. Let’s save
our weeping for true repentance and spare God all those crocodile tears.
Ken Barnes, the author of “The Chicken Farm and Other Sacred Places” YWAM Publishing
Email: kenbarnes737@gmail.com
website: https://sites.google.com/site/kenbarnesbooksite/
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