Repentance

When the topic of repentance comes along, many people go silent, or event get defensive of their actions that brought the topic up. I never, and to this day, understood why its so hard to admit your wrong doing and ask for forgiveness. I know the perceived reaction of the person offended plays a role, as does realizing you offended God too and His possible punishment, or wrath. Jesus makes it clear that we must repent for our sins, as do the Gospels, the apostle Paul, and the Old Testament narratives.

To repent means on must admit their faults and seek forgiveness, grace, and mercy. We must do this in a pure heart, meaning put it al. on the line, don't try to repent and half way meant, or repent with ulterior motives in play. Repentance is like taking a shower in the blood of Christ to wash us clean of the dirt and muck of sin. Matthew 9:13

But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” The door is open we need to walk in, and be made whole in and by Christ 

Grace

Dead to Sin, Alive to God

Romans 6

New King James Version (NKJV)


6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?² Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? ³ Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? ⁴ Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Merriam-Webster's defines grace as:

a: unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification b : a virtue coming from God c : a state of sanctification enjoyed through divine grace

To me, grace is all that is articulated above wrapped up in a gift from God. We cannot earn it, and often times we do not deserve it. Sometimes we are called upon to share God's grace we receive towards our fellow man. Grace is God's gift to us.

No human can earn grace.  To say we have ''earned grace'', could imply that God has a respective person, a favorite among us, which is not true. Because of our proclivity to sin, earning grace is impossible. The only person to walk this earth that truly earned grace was Christ Jesus, and He resides at the right hand of God now. Due to our sins, we probably do not deserve grace, but God supplies us with His divine assistance on a regular basis.  Not because we earned it or are his favorite person, but because He knows we can't do this alone, we need Him to find our way back to Him. Ephesians 2:8-9 Says, For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

When we are in position to give, share, or show grace like God has to us, a great number of people fail.  Either because of greed, fear, or lack of knowing God, we fail here. In order to be Christ-like, we must put our emotions and human understanding aside and seek Christ for counsel as to what would He do in this situation.

We Lin on, by, and because of the grace God gives us, for without it, we would be lost in sin and death. Grace is no. a get out of jail free card people perceive it to be.  It is a true gift from God.

Forgiveness

To me, Christ gives us a clear yet "unofficial" commandment to forgive like we want to be forgive. In this world of entitlement, people expect forgiveness but often fail to hand it out in return. Jesus says "forgive us our transgressions as we forgive those who have transgressed against us." So why do we fail at this so regularly, miserably, and furthermore without regard of consequence?

A lot of people fail to realize that when we forgive we must forget.  You will often here people say "I forgive you, but I can't forget what you did". That counteracts the entire ideology of forgiveness. To forget means to not label the offender for what they have done to you once you have worked out forgiveness of them with God. By no means does forget infer that we should put ourselves in harm's way (a repeat of the initial contact that we are showing forgiveness for). If the person is a habitual offender, wholeheartedly forgive them and then steer clear of that circumstance to prevent repeat issues.

God forgives and forgets our transgressions in an instant. Even Jesus asked God to forgive those who had a Him crucified. Why can't people FORGIVE & FORGET in order to move past the problem and live life to the fullest? Its because we hold to the infraction and use it as a scapegoat for all of our lifelong issues. We need something and someone to blame for not falling on God's tender mercies and seeking His word and healing hand to rise above the situation and never look back. I myself struggle with this but, will not give up on getting better at it, for giving up is not of God.

Mark 11:25

[ Forgiveness and Prayer ] “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.