Arise, raise up the youth and support him with your hand, for I intend to make him a great nation.  Genesis 21:18

Happy Tuesday!  It’s a glorious day.  When I was getting dressed this morning, I started thinking and wondering “why isn’t everyone a Christian?”.  I mean, if I were on the fence, I would reason that it wouldn’t hurt anything to try.  Then it occurred to me that repenting is a commitment everyone is not willing to make.

Have you ever thought about what it means to repent?  Have you used the word, but never really thought about it?  Well, you’re not alone.  I have used “repent” and many other words freely without much thought.  Repenting is first telling God you’re sorry.  That’s obvious to most, but there’s more.  It’s commitment to change.  It doesn’t mean you won’t make mistakes, but it a commitment to live a different life.  I have a Christian friend who has had many extramarital affairs.  I asked her one day “have you ever thought about what it’s going to be like to stand before God and look at your life?”  She said “well, I made mistakes when I was growing up and my mom forgave me . . . God will forgive me in much the same way.”  I know men who have molested young girls all their life, and keep going back to God, asking for forgiveness.  Their behavior never changes.  Can you intentionally keep making the same mistakes and ask for forgiveness?  Yes, but that is not repenting.  When we repent, we ask for forgiveness and make a commitment to turn our life around.  We stand up with courage and ask God to help us to live a different kind of life.  We walk in the love of Jesus.

Are you going through life making the same mistakes over and over, while turning to God with pleas of forgiveness?  Stand up with courage today, and make a commitment to live a Christian life.  Leave the mistakes of the past behind you, and break through the cycle of sin!  God bless you.