Why Repent?

4/18/21

For those who have truly repented of their sins, this question has an obvious answer, but to those who have played around with this word and concept or those who have no care to do such, the meaning of the answer is about to be revealed.  Of course, the most important reason is to spread the Gospel of Christ to those who are not saved, but there is another huge issue as to why we should repent and this reason might even spare you and your loved ones in the near future.  God wants all people to repent and to come unto Him for His Truth and His Protection.  In a short time, things shall change and our eyes shall be witness to what God is going to show us today, so we need to understand that we need to draw close to Him for when this time reaches our lives, it will be tough to stand if we are not conditioned properly.

I wish I could state that it is every person's desire to hold down a responsible job and through this responsibility be proud of the wages that they honestly earn.  But in this day and age, there are countless people who would rather try and make a name for themselves by having their 15 seconds of fame on a social media site than to take the authority over such settings and do the correct thing.  Most young people these days do not care about anyone or anything but themselves and what they can manipulate and take from others with the least amount of effort possible.  This is a dangerous game to play when one sets these actions up against the standard of measurement for wages and prosperity.  Remember, wages are not always confined to just monetary results, there are waves and waves of other opportunities to earn other types of wages.

When I was a young boy, ministers did not make very much money, but still were expected to be available 24/7 when and if things went south in the congregations.  This trend continues today, but in many cases, the commitment level of said ministers is far smaller and shorter than my vivid memory recalls.  I remember answering the doorbell many times during this young period of time in my life only to see a member or two from the church standing there with baskets of fresh fruits and veggies in bushel baskets.  Funny, at the time I had only one thought that crossed my mind and that was something like this: I guess I will be spending a good amount of this afternoon outside shucking corn, snapping beans, shelling peas, or peeling potatoes.  I did not stop to think that what I was doing was to help mom prepare food for that evening's meal or to help prepare these items for canning, so we could eat at another time.

Oh, how many times these past few decades of my life I have wished that I could roll back time and have the opportunity to sit on the front porch as a young boy and complete those tasks again.  Times sure have changed, and as these times have presented their ideas we have become lazy in our beliefs and have lost such pride as an individual, a city, a nation, and especially as The Church.  We selfishly wish to gain wages that will give us notoriety instead of respect in our family's eyes and hearts.  We have traded honesty in workmanship for haphazardly produced line objects that over time we downgrade as just a job instead of a service to others.  What type of wage-earning is this and how did we reach this type of belief that we deserve more than our fellow coworker who provides the same type of result?  Our hearts have become so dark and blackened that we could not produce an honest result or service or even recognize such one.  I cannot help but look in amazement at the things we buy or believe we need in order to "make it" in our world today.  I also cannot help but tremble when I remember what God has shown me about the future and how lost countless people will be due to the fact that all of their gadgets and toys no longer are viable to their survival.

It is this type of reason as to why it is important we understand why we need to repent.  The Scripture verse that God wants us to have as our Guide today is a popular one from the New Testament but this time God has placed an added nugget of information to its Holy write and another step to its Truth about repentance.  Yes, God wants all of His precious creations to be with HIm when it is time to stand before His throne, but unless we have taken this word, repent seriously, and have lived in its complete meaning, we may have a gigantic ugly surprise that eternal day.  The verse for this article comes from Romans 6:23 and is as follows:

Romans 6:23

"For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Greek

"For the wages of sin [is] death, but the gift of God [is] eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

As stated above, this is one of the most popular Scriptures that I have heard over my five decades of life, but what is it about sin that makes its inhabitance in our lives so deadly?  All of us have watched newscasts and have read reports of all the violence that grips our nation today.  You name it and we have heard or read about it recently.  The pattern that we have in motion now, seems to be getting worse and not better even though targeted laws and orders have been drafted, written, or thrown out left and right.  And to make things more frustrating and confusing, you have parents or neighbors getting on the airwaves and fueling the hype and confusing with pictures and stories that warrant a different look at the victims, and how they were good and did not deserve to die or be hurt in such a manner.  No one cares that many have ugly records or were involved in settings of gross disobedience that either directly or indirectly resulted in their demise.

The examples could go on and on but I believe you understand the point of how the first part of this verse comes into play, for sin does equal death on all levels and its process of reaching this point is something we need to understand and to keep in our foreheads.  While Satan is a repetitive clown, we have an easy tendency of falling for his lies and carrot danglings.  Satan is not stupid even though he is on a spiritual leash controlled by God, he still can operate through doors that we have opened and walked through.  It is this carrot leading that is the dangerous part, for it looks good to our eyes and it seems like there is no harm in that carrot.  But in reality, the carrot while it looks good is the sin that we allow into our lives and when we consume that carrot (sin) it begins its growth process.  YES!! Sin is alive for if it is allowed it shall grow and multiply until it has a good hold in your life.  That is why sin and the ugly things we allow into our lives always start out small or on occasion for if we knew right from the start that what we are accepting will kill us, then we would not participate.

This is where this verse takes hold and gives us an explanation of why we need to repent.  In everything, we need it must be purchased.  As soon as this sweet and "innocent-looking" carrot enters into our lives, its "nutrition" begins to do its job.  At first, its products will not be noticeable but given the proper amount of incubation time inside our lives, the origin and root of that carrot (sin) shall begin to look like the sickness that it really is.  The carrot and its product that it is supplying is its wage or the energy it produces after its inclusion.  From the beginning of Genesis until the end of Revelation God warns us to repent on a daily basis of the things we ingest and incorporate from the world.  Why? Because if left alone it will not die but it shall grow and it will eventually come to fruition, just through normal growth and living processes.

Also, we know that God provides us with life, it is the ONLY thing He can produce.  Therefore, the ONLY thing Satan and his worldly kingdom can provide is the opposite of life which is death.  Therefore again, through this spiritual Truth and reality, you and I are going to use the earnings that we have accumulated inside our hearts.  Think about this fact for a bit, ponder what all you have allowed into your life throughout your time on earth.  This is why being mad at someone turns into anger and then hatred.  This is why a small petty theft turns into armed robbery, etc.  Sin grows and when we continually allow its presence to live unabated for countless amounts of time, no wonder our societies are burning.  Our hearts are just as blackened as the smoke that rises from these burning cities.

Sin will come out but not in the form that it entered into your life as.  When pushed and then grown enough, something will trigger its outward arrival and it will appear in its true form for everyone to see.  Unfortunately, there will be many who have similar or in common issues appearing as well; ironically, when this state occurs it will not be too much longer than they will turn against like-spirited people, remember, Satan and the sin he represents is selfish on all aspects and levels of existence.  Today, we find that there are many people who have been cultured in sin, raised up with sin being the normal standard for their lives, it is this grooming that proves deadly sometime in their future.  Some folks figure this status out before things become overwhelming but those numbers who do are very small.  God asks you to take this truth into account the next time your eyes see another violent act that crosses your screen.

Yes, the most important reason why one should repent is to ensure that they have the capability of spreading the Gospel of Christ. However, there is another reason for when you truly repent, you automatically curb the advancement of Satan's kingdom which means you stop a future death process from being revealed or even displayed to the public.  Satan does not care that you will destroy yourself when it comes to such treacherous acts of sin, all he cares about is your destruction and how many people you can take down with you.  It is difficult to believe anyone would want to participate in such things that we hear about, organized war is bad enough, but when you place this type of destructive mentality onto your own land and people it places sinful growth to its highest position.  When this type of activity expands, and it will unless true repentance takes place, it will do so into other receptive societies and thus create a process in which the overall land cannot continue to survive.

Is the example you set out to provide of a selfish and sinful nature or is it one that displays God in everything you do?  These actions by us define the phrase "the wages of sin is death" and it leads to the 2nd half of the verse when it says that "the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."  This is a stark contrast to the first part of this verse and it lines up the fact that you can either have death as your product or you can have life as your product.  It is a known fact that once the death process begins it cannot be stopped and yet the body does everything it can to ward off this permanent state until it can no longer do so.  The spiritual aspect of our lives is the same, it shall continue to seek its source of life until it is finally cut off by the lack of life.  True repentance comes with a huge fight, for it is our nature to die which goes along with the truth about the world and its ruler.

God sent His Son to be our representative in all matters concerning death and life.  Jesus paid the ultimate Sacrifice and presented His people with a covering that makes us clean and holy in the eyes of God, but we must choose each day to live under this eternal covering and serve God with all of our hearts.  We must crucify our sin daily, not just on occasion or periodically, a free fight for your eternity.  The true reason for repentance comes from the heart and when it arrives it automatically desires to share the Truth with others.  Truth when believed completely cannot be hidden for it runs over constantly and it is this product that should be on display.  Contrastly, the world continues the vulgar display of its belief without hesitation so why do we not have the same God-like characteristic flowing out from us?

Remember, a sign of a mature sinner is one that brings up accusations against you whenever the battle is ongoing.  Do not ever forget that our growth in Christ is measured in spiritual maturity, so we must contend that sin matures in the same way and manner.  This is the reason it is very important that we ensure that our repentance is alive and well Through Christ or the gift from God cannot mature and push out the inherited sin in our lives.  As stated above, the world has no problem pushing its agenda onto anyone that it comes in contact with, so we should be doing the same with the accountability of repentance.  THIS is the reason why we should repent, it is our mission to say such Truth to those who do not know.  Church, let's get going and complete the mission of Christ for time is short and things shall change soon; there is no more time to waste.  Our goal is to mature in Christ, not the world (sin), which is the reason God wants total separation from the world.

DLB