"Only The Penitent Man Will Pass".. The Importance Of Repentance
Today is "Ash Wednesday." I've heard about Ash Wednesday for years... I grew up in Louisiana and went to seminary in New Orleans and was Pastor of a church on the Mississippi Gulf Coast so.. I'm fairly familiar with Mardi Gras... lent.. etc..
But, until this year, I hadn't given the significance of Ash Wednesday much thought. I have learned that the ashes symbolize repentance and repentance is the first step as we begin the process of preparing ourselves to celebrate Christ's resurrection. Let's think about repentance.
The word "repent" comes from a Greek word metanoia. The word means "to change." The idea is, a person is living their life a certain way which is wrong. Then, they are convicted of their sin and then, they realize the need to change... they do and invite Jesus into their heart. But, before they will invite Jesus into their heart, they must repent..
Someone has said that repentance is the first command of the gospel. In order to receive Christ, we must realize we NEED to receive Christ and that means repenting.
Repenting means admitting we are wrong.
Repenting means asking the Lord to help us make a change.
Repenting means looking in the mirror and realize WE must change.. not our spouse.. not our family... not our colleagues at work... but WE must change.
There is an old expression... "Every tub must sit on its own bottom." Repentance means acknowledging that I'm responsible for the bottom of my tub and I must change.
To repent.. we must humble ourselves. It means realizing that we need help. That we are wrong. It is my humble opinion, that we need lots of repentance in America today. We are far more concerned with expressing our opinion or standing up for our rights than we are with making sure our opinion is accurate and realizing that we have rights because others have sacrificed.
Folks, there is a standard for Christian living. It's laid out clearly in the Scriptures. In the areas that we have drifted from that standard we need to repent and return to the Lord.
Jesus said "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 5:3).
"Poor in spirit" describes one who is humble... one who is teachable... one who has repented.
In the movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," archaeologist Indiana Jones finds himself reading instructions from an ancient book to try to navigate the way to the cup of Christ which, if a person drinks from it.. can be healed. Indy is walking in an area where everyone else before has been beheaded. As he does he repeats the instructions.. trying to determine the secret to avoid being beheaded...
He reads... "only the penitent man will pass..." and at the last minute it clicks what "penitent" means.. Indy falls to the ground... avoids the huge blade and lives.
Falling to the ground.. like a penitent man... humbling himself... saved his life.
As we begin Lent, remember Indy's instructions.. "Only the penitent man will pass..." and humbly kneel before the Lord in repentance.
Comments