Repentance

"Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near."

Matthew 4:17

Repentance is an admission and an adjustment.  When we repent we admit we have personally behaved in a way that offends God and the reality He has prepared for us.  We admit we have been headed away from God and away from reality. When we repent we also make an adjustment in direction. We turn toward God and the reality He created for us and away from the lies about God and reality that we have been living.

When Jesus called His first followers He simply said "Follow Me."  Whether they understood completely or not the disciples were repenting as they followed Jesus. It is impossible to avoid repentance while following and adapting to Jesus.  It is impossible to avoid repentance while following Jesus because Jesus is the reality we have offended with our wrong thinking and actions.

To become a disciple is to admit and adapt to what is true in Jesus.  Jesus is not a new idea. Jesus is the reality of what has always been and will always be best for us. Jesus is what is supernaturally natural in the universe. All true repentance is made possible because Jesus came near to walk among us so we could walk back toward God together.

The longer we walk with Jesus the more we perceive how much admitting and adapting lies ahead for us. As maturing  disciples we settle in for the long walk back to what is supernaturally natural with Jesus.  Being a disciple of Jesus is not boring!  Every day something is shown to us in Jesus and adapting to what we now see keeps us engaged and growing.

There is no going back once we truly see where Jesus is taking us.  In Jesus it is all good up ahead. There is no good reason to go back.

Bud McCord

Abide International