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repentance

Where Does Our Arrogance Come From?

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It Comes from Our Humanity

The ability as humans to think and plan sets us apart. The tendency is to assume we have everything all figured out. This power of choice that we’ve been given can lead to arrogance.

The further we get from God, the more arrogant we become.

In chapter seven of Isaiah, King Ahaz of Judah is freaking out that they are going to be attacked by Isreal with the help of Syria. God told Isaiah to go to King Ahaz and tell him to stop worrying. The Lord promised that this wasn’t going to happen.

He said, “But, if you don’t trust me, you will be defeated.”

King Ahaz was afraid to test God. Then Isaiah said, “Listen, every one of you in the royal family of David. You have already tried my patience. Now you are trying God’s patience by refusing to ask for proof. But the Lord will still give you proof. A virgin is pregnant; she will have a son and will name him Immanuel. Even before the boy is old enough to know how to choose between right and wrong, he will eat yogurt and honey, and the countries of the two kings you fear will be destroyed. But the Lord will make more trouble for your people and your kingdom than any of you have known since Israel broke away from Judah. He will even bring the king of Assyria to attack you.” (Isaiah 7:1-17)

We see humanity’s arrogance throughout the Bible. It started in the Garden of Eden and continues today. We are given free will and we abuse it. Then we beg for forgiveness. We do better for a little while and then…we abuse it again.

We get cocky and think we know what’s best.

Just like King Ahaz was given the opportunity to trust God, we are given this opportunity. This is why God sent His Son to earth. To pay for our mistakes. But we must choose to trust God. This makes us feel like we’re giving up control and we don’t like giving up control.

It doesn’t have to be one or the other.

It’s about making the right choice.

Just like the virgin birth of Jesus was a miracle…so is our ability to be who we are intended to be even if we choose to follow Jesus.

God can do anything…He is God. The supernatural is natural to God.

Our humanity comes from God, it’s up to us to remember this and not become arrogant, thinking we’re more than we are.

Life is Full of Choices

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One of Those Choices is Repentance

We all make mistakes. Some mistakes are more serious than others. The thing to remember is that the mistake doesn’t have to be the end of the story.

King David is remembered as someone after God’s heart even though he made a lot of mistakes. One of the reasons he is remembered this way is because of his willingness to admit his mistakes and repent of them.

This is evident in the Psalms. Many of the Psalms are of David repenting. This week’s Scripture, Psalm 6 is one of these. We don’t know exactly what mistake(s) David is referring to in this chapter. What we do know is that it’s an outpouring of David’s regret. To the point of bringing him to tears.

David’s penance is one of the reasons he was remembered as he was.

Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of repentance for sins committed. The word penance derives from Old French and Latin paenitentia, both of which derive from the same root meaning repentance.

This is a sincere change of heart and feeling of remorse. Repentance refers to the genuine interior sorrow for one’s hurtful words or actions.

Repentance implies a purpose and the resolve to avoid such hurtful behavior in the future. 

The superpower that we all have, but too often neglect to use, is the power of choice.

David made a lot of choices, knowing they were wrong. But he also chose to openly repent, asking for God’s forgiveness.

We are faced with choices every day. It’s up to us to ask God for His input before we make the choices. This will reduce the time of repentance.

What Does it Mean to Prepare the Way for Jesus?

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It’s About Getting Things Ready for Him to Move in

What if you had a close family member that needed a place to live. You decided that you were going to let them move in with you. What would you need to do to get ready for them?

You would need to make some changes to accommodate them, but they’re worth it.

In Luke 3:1-6 John is telling us how to prepare for Jesus moving into our lives. We will need to make some changes…but He is worth it.

Preparation involves knowing and doing.

There’s a story from the Old West when some Apache Indians stole a paymaster’s safe from the calvary. They knew it contained precious gold that was valuable. They tried all sorts of things to open it. They beat it with tomahawks, drug it behind their horses, heated it in a fire, tried blasting it with gun powder and finally threw it off a cliff.

Despite their efforts, nothing worked, they finally gave up and left it behind.

Later the Army found it and in a few minutes the paymaster had it open using the combination.

What the Indians were unable to do with a huge effort and struggle, the paymaster did simply with a few twists of his wrist.

He was able to do this because he knew the combination.

We need to know the right combination to open ourselves up so that Jesus can move in.

This combination includes repentance and commitment to righteous living.

Repentance is reviewing one’s actions and regretting past wrongs and committing to actions that show and prove the change. Righteousness is the perfect holiness of Christ. It is an essential attribute to the character of God; quite literally meaning “One who is right”. Think of it as the polar opposite of sin.

Gift cards are popular at Christmas. The problem is that too often they never get used. Half of Americans have unused gift cards averaging $300 per household. There are billions of dollars of unused gift cards floating around out there.

What good is a gift if it goes unused?

We’ve been given the Gift, but we have to use it, or it’s no good.

Don’t let your gift go to waste. Open yourself up and prepare for Christ to move in.