Repentance

“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.”-Isaiah 59:1-2

Repentance is truly important. It really has two components, sorrow for the sin that we have committed and change (in other words, a true commitment to not committing that sin again!). Jesus will always forgive those who are truly repentant.

But what is a true commitment to not committing that sin again? I will tell you what it is not. It is not necessarily never committing that same sin again. We are human and we fail. That is just the way it is. And if we fail, we just need to turn to Jesus and ask His forgiveness and get back up and try to change again :).

I will share with you what it is. Perhaps our sin is drinking too much. Stopping at the bar on that way home may make it very hard to avoid that sin!

Another thing we may want to avoid: fatigue. Perhaps our sin in being crabby and too critical in the evening. Being “too busy” and “too tired” may not help us to avoid that sin. So avoiding being too busy and too tired may be helpful.

How about lying? Avoiding any action that we would feel that need to lie about may be very helpful. How about white lies? Remembering that it is sometimes just easier to tell the truth may be helpful. For example, telling someone who invites us somewhere that we are too tired or need to stay home, may just be easier than claiming a prior commitment that does not exist.

Sin separates us from God. So we do not want any more sin in our lives than we really can’t seem to avoid. So we need to ask Jesus for Help and avoid them where we can!

There is a reason that the Our Father, which Jesus taught us to pray, ends with:

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”-Matthew 6:13

Prepare, Pray & Be Ready!