Repentance in an Unrepentant World

A while back in one of these posts (I won't take the time to look it up now) I made the statement to the effect that I was avoiding using the word "repent" because it had a contemporary meaning that was partly outside of the biblical meaning. Today I am going to attach my own new meaning to this  word .

We are all familiar with the verse in 2 Chronicles 7:14:

                "If my people, who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways [the first half of repentance], then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land." (NKJV)

So here we are, God's people, called by the name of Jesus Christ (that is, Christians). While the action  is far from universal, a significant number of us have humbled ourselves and prayed and sought His face and we have turned (largely) from our wicked ways. Still we look around us and our nation, as well as other nations seem still to be rushing headlong to hell in the proverbial hand basket! This  should indeed be painfully obvious to us through numerous headlines this last week.

Daniel must have felt feelings similar to what we feel when he prayed his famous prayer of repentance for his nation in Daniel 9:1-19. That passage is too long for me to quote here, and not all of it is relevant to the discussion at hand, but read it, and let it speak to you as we reflect on our nation, and our need for repentance. It strikes me however, that Daniel prayed from a broken and repentant heart about matters about which he had no personal need to repent. He was a man who lived in such a way that he was truly a part of the solution, rather than a part of the problem!

So here we are, a largely repentant church, in a largely unrepentant nation. As hopeful as we are, we seem to be unable to turn a nation that is not only unrepentant, but is almost gleeful and jubilant in their sin!

This brings us to the other half of repentance; the forgotten half. It is not enough to be sorry for sin. It is not enough to simply turn our back on sin. We must now start moving away from sin and sinful ways and start walking toward God's path and His ways and His leadership.

There is an image in revelation that takes place in the last days, but yet is a picture that is eerily similar to what we see in our world today. The picture is of smoke rising from "Babylon the great" (Rev. 18:2; also read all of Rev. Chapters 17 & 18).  Then we hear this:

"And I heard another voice from heaven saying "Come out of her my people (underline added) that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive her plagues" (Rev.18:2 NASB)

Setting aside the last days context, and letting the words apply to our own day, I think it is time for God's people to do the other half of repentance, and to move away from the sins of the world, and to distance ourselves from its practices. We need to separate ourselves from our society's sins and openly follow  the ways of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are as many ways that this can take shape in our lives as there are of us who are doing it, but nonetheless it is incumbent upon those of us who call ourselves Christians to stand apart from this sinful world, and hold up the righteous banner of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks for sharing this moment with me today.