Ready to Turn Around?
Peter’s words pierced their hearts, and they said to him and to the other apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
Peter replied, “Each of you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit..."
~ Acts 2:37,38 (NLT)
Repent: (Greek) to change one's mind; to turn from
I'm headed in the wrong direction, only I don't think so.
My wife, of course, insists we are not going the right way, but I persist. "This is the way. I remember from last time."
"I don't know what 'last time' you're referring to," my wife starts in again, "but it wasn't to the Robinson's."
When the should-be ten minute drive becomes twenty, I realize that I was wrong and that my wife was right. Doing a "U-ey" I work to get us back headed in the right direction.
Realizing that I was headed the wrong direction was not enough. I had to do something about it. A change of course was necessary. In a similar sense, repentance works the same way. Our lives are headed in the wrong direction and God calls us to turn around, only we think everything is fine.
What is required at this point is a change of mind. We must agree with God that we are going the wrong way and then make a u-turn. Biblically, this is called repentance.
Corcoris would write, "Repentance is incomplete unless it leads to confession and restitution in cases of injury; unless it causes us to forsake not merely outward sins, which others notice, but those which lie concealed in the heart; unless it makes us choose the service of God and live not for ourselves but for Him. There is no duty which is either more obvious in itself, or more frequently asserted in the Word of God, than that of repentance."
How about you? Are you headed in the right direction or is a u-turn necessary?
