"Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.'" -Mark 1:14–15
The word repentance strikes a multitude of emotions in us. It goes against our bent inclination toward sin, as well as against society's call to follow your heart and to do what makes you happy. The call of Jesus to repent and believe is quieter, gentler, and more subtle than the thundering of voices that testify against it. But make no mistake- it still demands everything of us, while opening up the beauty of an eternal future that the Lord wants for all of His children. Repentance is the doorway into the Kingdom of God, we must go through it to enter.
In Hebrew, to repent means to "return home", "console oneself", "be sorry for", or even to "be comforted". It is an action that leads to an emotion...turn around, return home, be comforted. It is a command with a promise attached at the end.
Repentance is not a chore, but perhaps the biggest opportunity we are given. It's our fork in the road moment. The fact that we are given the chance to turn away from everything we have ever done and will do wrong, and return home to a loving Father is the biggest gift we could ever receive.
Our Father calls every one of us away from the path we are all set on, the one that leads us down, down, down, and wills us to turn around and believe. We do not need anything to repent and receive the comfort, peace, and life God extends; we need only turn and come, step out of our dust and ashes, and lean in.
"...therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes." -Job 42:6
Because our Lord has risen and defeated the enemy, He has ushered in a new reality, a new way of living, and that is in His kingdom; the invitation available to all but accepted by little. The Kingdom is at hand...if you only turn towards it, you will be met with comfort and the eternal kind of life. That is a promise.
It is easier said than done, as, like surrender, repentance is a moment-by-moment conscious choice, but one that is always extended; and when accepted, you will no doubt be welcomed home by the Father, into the life of a kingdom not of this world, but a kingdom eternal.
Only because Jesus went into the depths -and rose from them- are we able to simply turn and be made new...the debt paid enables free forgiveness.
The moment you repent, you are forgiven. Grace abounds for you, there is space for you at the table of the King. Even when all other earthly doors are shut in your face, when you are scorned and mocked and bruised by this world, look behind you. Turn around; there is a door always open with a God always willing you to come in and dine.
So perhaps repentance doesn't require that much out of us, perhaps it is just giving back to Christ what He rightfully paid for. Forgiveness bought with a hefty price, so it might be laid lavishly upon any lost heart that merely returns home.
Just as repentance is not a chore for us, so forgiveness is not a chore of our Lord Jesus; it is His joy.
As Jesus said, Our Father in Heaven is similar to a father waiting for His child to return home, almost anxious and expectant to see him safe in His home again so that he might be met with all the comfort only the Father Himself can offer to him. Outside the walls of the Kingdom is a place in which He cannot guarantee safety, but, in fact, can guarantee the opposite. That is why He delights in nothing more than to see him - and us - home.
There is a song, Hidden by Will Reagan, that says this:
"As I grow, and as I change, may I love You more deeply. I will lean upon Your grace, I will weep because Your goodness is unending... You are my vision, My reason for living, Your kindness leads me to repentance. I can't explain it, This sweet assurance, But I've never known this kind of friend."
It is out of the loving-kindness of Jesus that He invites us to repent, and it is that same kindness that leads us every step of the way after. As we grow, change, and walk through this life, we are always welcomed to lean upon what Dietrich Bonhoeffer described as "costly grace", to lean upon what has been paid for.
Repentance is a necessity for knowing and seeing and tasting the love of Christ in our lives, today and tomorrow. We are born with hearts bent away from Him, our feet facing in the wrong direction and headed down the wrong path...how can we see what is behind us? We must turn. We must humble ourselves enough to accept that the grace paid for is not something we can earn ourselves, we must accept that we are placed in dust and ashes, and only then can we accept that God, in His goodness, does not want us to stay there; He extends a hand to us to lift us on to the heights, and into His eternal kind of life, into His eternal kind of Kingdom.
"He made my feet like the feet of a deer and set me secure on the heights." - Psalm 18:33
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