Borrowed Breath

So yesterday, I saw a license plate on the front of an old van that said
“Repent
     Believe
          Obey.”

These commands were stacked on top of each other as if to emphasize the importance of the order.

But, in my opinion, this is getting the cart way before the horse. Repentance, which simply means turning from my sin, cannot happen in my own strength. And yet, unless I’m daft, this person seems to believe that repentance must precede belief. But if I don’t believe in the only begotten Son of God as my salvation, I can try and try and try and try (you get the point) to turn from my sin. And I will always fail.

Paul makes it very clear that it is God’s goodness and kindness that lead to repentance, not my willpower. “…do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?” (Romans 2.4 TNIV).

Even as a believer, I have a track record of not believing in my God, and so therefore being unable to truly repent.

Maybe I’m making too much of this. Maybe the order of these commands was not important to the driver of the van. Yet I’ve met Christians who make a huge deal out of repentance, and who seem to forget that it is actually a sign of belief and trust and love.

Add it to the list of things I don’t know.

Time spent apart
Has scarred my heart
Yet you gently address each wound.
With loving care,
You heal and repair,
And broken strings now are attuned.

“Our vision of Christ should shape our mission which should shape our ecclesiology.”

                                                                    Ryan Kozey
                                                                    Circa 2010

“When no one is watching you, that is when your character is revealed.”

                                                                           Tom Hudzina
                                                                           Circa 2010

Last night, at our weekly worship service, one of our worship leaders was praying for our pastor just before he got up to preach. In the prayer, he said that our pastor would boast about our God. I thought that was really cool. When we speak about God and His hand in our lives, we are actually boasting about Him. Maybe that’s why I love testimonies so much. People from the congregation with no public speaking skills get up and boast about what God is doing in their lives.

Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let him who boasts boast in the Lord.” (I Corin. 1.26-31 NIV)

And when we do this, we are actually boasting about our own weakness. For we know that apart from the matchless grace of God, we would be less than nothing.

If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness. (II Corin. 11.30)

One of the beautiful things about this journey of faith is that we are never alone. Our God and Redeemer is with us every step of the way. And when we are tempted by our adversary and by our flesh, He gives grace and strength to overcome the temptation. Yet when we stumble and sin and act in a way that does not reflect who we are in Him, He is still right there with us to pick us up and to continue walking with us.

If you have sinned, and you cannot tell anyone about it for fear they will not understand and they will disown you, know that our Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you. He knows the deepest, darkest secret that haunts you. And His love is greater than anything you have done. May this love give you the strength to overcome the sin which so easily entangles you.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. (John 10.27-29)

May you listen to His voice and follow Jesus. And may you find others who will share this burden with you. You were not designed to do this alone.
Shalom, dear friend.

Throughout Christ’s ministry when He walked this earth, people followed him from afar, watching, curious about this man and His ministry. And all around us, people are watching us from afar, curious about our faith and how it plays out in life.

Will our conduct disgust them and drive them away?
Or will it compel them to ask of the hope that lies within us?

“Perplext in faith, but pure in deeds,
     At last he beat his music out.
     There lives more faith in honest doubt,
Believe me, than in half the creeds.

He fought his doubt and gather’d strength,
     He would not make his judgment blind,
     He faced the spectres of the mind
And laid them; thus he came at length

To find a stronger faith his own.
     And Power was with him in the night,
     Which makes the darkness and the light,
And dwells not in the light alone.”

                                                         Alfred Tennyson
                                                         In Memoriam (from verse XCVI)

…is not adhering to a set of beliefs or a creed, and then getting others to do the same.
It is, at its core, following Jesus Christ and being reconciled to God through Him and inviting others to join us.

“All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God” (II Corin. 5.18-20 ESV).

Isn’t she beautiful?