Repentance, a new beginning.

So we’ve confessed.  We’re forgiven.  Now what?  It’s a new day, and we start all over.  Adore, confess, thank, request – adore, confess, thank, request . . .  wait, I’m in a rut.  I keep confessing the same old, same old.  I am repeating the same bad habits, the same sinful tendencies – “I don’t do what I want to do and what I want to do, not happening”  – my version of Paul’s statement to the Romans.

Paul finishes off the paragraph in Romans 7:

For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;  but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.  What a wretched man I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Let’s take that apart, shall we?  First we must “delight” in God’s law IN OUR INNER BEING.  First, we must know the law before we can delight in it, I’m thinking.  So we read the Word, study it.  Know it (I’m pointing to my heart now) and we like it!  We want to do the right thing, we want to follow the commandments, we want to love that person . . .  

And if we can’t love that person, cause she just ain’t that lovable,  then we call upon the Rescuer.  The Lord, Jesus Christ.  He IS Perfect Love.  He is the our access to the Father.  His Holy Spirit can move in us to do the un-do-able – infiltrate our being so that sin has NO power over us – our “wants” have changed.  Our “ways” are right, our heart is full – full of the Holy Spirit who is The Helper.

In order for The Helper to infiltrate, we must have a broken and contrite heart – a heart that is humble and TRULY sorry for the sin(s), a heart with room in it for God ( and not FULL OF OURSELVES) cause you know EGO stands for “easing God out”, don’t you?   

Psalm 51:  Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion.  Blot out my transgressions.  Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. . . .O Lord, open my lips,  and my mouth will declare Your praise.   You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; You do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart.

So, we’ve changed.  We want what God wants.  We want to walk down His Way, one step at a time.  Every morning, waking up, and asking God to break our hearts so that He will do a mighty work through us, set us on a new path.  In a new direction – true repentance. 

Changing the direction, turning the other way . . . leaving the old behind. 

In my latest Bible study by Beth Moore, she quoted an autobiography I would like to share.  I think it’s a good “ending” to our new “beginning”:

Autobiography in 5 chapters by Anonymous

I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk
I fall in.
I am lost... I am hopeless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I'm in the same place.
But it isn't my fault.
It still takes a long time to get out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in... it's a habit
My eyes are open
I know where I am
It is my fault.
I get out immediately.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.
I walk down another street.

Oh may my heart see . . . the path to true repentance.

PS:  I don’t know why but even though some of you are commenting on my blog, they are not coming through to me and so they are not published.  I am SO SORRY about that!  I will try and rectify it the best I can because I would LOVE to hear from you!