The Happiness of Repentance

Repentance = Getting back on the path to God.

I heard a definition of sin and repentance that I find helpful.  Sin is anything that has us turning away from God, and Repentance is turning back towards God.  Sin gets us off the path, and repentance gets us back.

Sometimes we seem to believe that beating ourselves up about whatever we have thought, said, or done wrong is required for forgiveness, but if we are traveling any road, and we get beaten up, it makes getting where we want to go harder.  Obviously we need to recognize that we have turned away from God, and it is okay to feel bad, but beating ourselves up isn't feeling bad.  It's feeling bad and then tearing ourselves down too.  It is telling ourselves we are stupid, and that our mistake has made us unsalvageable, or not worth saving.  It is denying that Christ's atonement can reach us, which takes us even farther away from God.

I have been the queen of beating myself up on occasion, never stopping to think of this as a lack of faith in Christ.  It isn't until relatively recently that I realized what a joyful thing it is to recognize a sin so that I have the opportunity to turn back towards God!  This morning I read in Job 5:17 "Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth:...".  I do not like getting "in trouble" and have often wondered how being corrected by God could be happy -- but it is!  He can help us see where we have turned away from Him, and He will help us turn back to Him.  He is love -- and turning back towards love is happy!

**Photo by Alex Holyoake on Unsplash

From a Little Seed

Every year when I plant a garden, I am amazed at what a big plant can come from one tiny little seed.  The seed needs dirt, water, and sunlight and to not be allowed to be choked out by weeds, and then it grows into the same kind of plant it came from -- creating more seeds to grow more plants from!  It really is miraculous.

We are miraculous too.  We can be the seeds.  The dirt can be our environment --which can be good, bad, or in between.  Water can represent our physical needs.  If we don't take care of ourselves, we shrivel faster!  If we do take care of ourselves, we grow stronger (unless attacked by diseases and pests!).  Sunlight is what we need from God.  It is His love, and knowledge and what keeps our spirits growing and improving.  He's the gardener that is there to help fix things when we mess them up. Weeds can be the things that sneak into our environment.  They are sins, and distractions.  They can grow so big that they keep us from the sun, and they drink all of the water.

No analogy is perfect.  But just look at how much of our growth we have a choice about! We can choose to make our environments better, or can get lax and let destructive things in.  We can take care of ourselves, or not, which can really help or hinder our growth in all areas.  We can choose to repent, and allow God into our lives fully, or we can believe that those "weeds" won't really make that big of a difference.  We have a choice in so many things!  We may not have a choice about which diseases or pests come our way, but we do have a choice of how we will deal with them, and whether we will turn towards God or away from Him because of them.

I hope to grow into the kind of "plant" that will make the Gardener happy.  The kind who reaches for The Son, appreciates the rain, and doesn't allow the weeds to thrive!  The kind of plant who doesn't let diseases and pests keep me from hope, and light.  Then, before winter comes, the little seed that is me, can become something truly miraculous.