Repent

“No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.”          Luke 13.3

Jesus’ message here, His warning that “all” will perish, is universal. No one is exempt from God’s judgment, and we are all sinners. There is a strange comfort in this, to know that sin is not selective but seeks to infect us all.

Just as readily, thank God, the remedy is available to everybody. And this remedy is the way of repentance. It seems easy, almost too easy. What God asks of me is to come before Him, and say “Sorry”. But it requires sincerity of heart for me to do this honestly and humbly. And there is more! I need to allow the Spirit of God to search the very depths of my being and to bring to the light all that requires yielding up to God in confession and repentance.

I need to be willing to open myself up freely to God’s scrutiny. I need the courage to receive what He might show me and to say, “Yes, this needs to be dealt with, and I am willing for it to be so.” This, perhaps, is the harder part. I find no great difficulty in saying sorry. But I’m likely to struggle with and maybe against, some of the taint and grime that God might uncover.

Yet I am serious about my walk with Him, and so I must give myself to this examination and to offer myself to Him to deal with whatever may need to be dealt with.

Gracious God,

I see You are there to help me every step of the way. Thank You.

I offer myself to Your scrutiny. This is not brash, but a humble effort on my part to come clean.

Search me by Your Spirit. Uncover that which needs to change, and lead me in that change by the force of Your love and the power of Christ’s sacrifice. I yield, and seek Your release. I ask these things in Jesus’ loving name.                Amen.