"Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord" --Acts 3:19
I had never read this Scripture this way before. At least, I don't think I had. What a wonderful progression from confession to absolution to new life.
It starts with repentance: changing the way that we think and the way that we act. It starts with not accepting things as they are now but rather looking for a change, a newness, a different way.
Where do we find that different way? In God, as we turn to Him. We have realized that our way is not working, so we look to God in repentance. We look to Him in a way that says that we are broken but He can fix us. We turn to Him because, after all of our searching and hunting, He is the only one who can effect the change that we are looking for.
That change starts with the stripping off of the old; the forgiveness of sins. Sometimes it's hard to surrender to the Father's superiority and admit that we are sinful and that those sins need to be wiped out. God is always more ready to forgive than we are to confess. Confession is weakness, meekness, helplessness. Confession is giving up and not giving in to the myth that we can fix ourselves. But it's also the realization that God can do more through us than we could ever do for ourselves. It's the realization that the sin that we are trying to fix is really holding us back. God strips our sin away so that we can get on with what He wants for us.
The thing God desires for us is refreshing. Refreshing our strength, refreshing our minds, refreshing our attitudes, refreshing our spirits. Refreshing is the gift of that change, that new way that repentance is looking for. Many times, it doesn't come the way we wanted it but it is welcome...sometimes. We struggle with the changes that this refreshing challenges us to make, but that struggle leads us to cofession and repentance and the process begins again.
O Father, hear our repentant prayer. Give us your refreshing. Amen.
I had never read this Scripture this way before. At least, I don't think I had. What a wonderful progression from confession to absolution to new life.
It starts with repentance: changing the way that we think and the way that we act. It starts with not accepting things as they are now but rather looking for a change, a newness, a different way.
Where do we find that different way? In God, as we turn to Him. We have realized that our way is not working, so we look to God in repentance. We look to Him in a way that says that we are broken but He can fix us. We turn to Him because, after all of our searching and hunting, He is the only one who can effect the change that we are looking for.
That change starts with the stripping off of the old; the forgiveness of sins. Sometimes it's hard to surrender to the Father's superiority and admit that we are sinful and that those sins need to be wiped out. God is always more ready to forgive than we are to confess. Confession is weakness, meekness, helplessness. Confession is giving up and not giving in to the myth that we can fix ourselves. But it's also the realization that God can do more through us than we could ever do for ourselves. It's the realization that the sin that we are trying to fix is really holding us back. God strips our sin away so that we can get on with what He wants for us.
The thing God desires for us is refreshing. Refreshing our strength, refreshing our minds, refreshing our attitudes, refreshing our spirits. Refreshing is the gift of that change, that new way that repentance is looking for. Many times, it doesn't come the way we wanted it but it is welcome...sometimes. We struggle with the changes that this refreshing challenges us to make, but that struggle leads us to cofession and repentance and the process begins again.
O Father, hear our repentant prayer. Give us your refreshing. Amen.
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