The Fruit of Repentance

Life is filled with memorable experiences that seem unbelievable to those that weren't part of them. From bold acts of bravery, to daring stunts, to many other things that just seem to sound more Hollywood than normal life. However, in each story. there is a lesson to be learned. Paul said in Romans 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

That doesn't mean everything is always good, but that everything has some part of it that can lead us closer to the one that is good--God. That might be from the wisdom others share with us, or by a rebuke. Or we may be drawn closer to God because our situation broke us to the point of total humility. Perhaps our situation may have caused so much pain to many other people that we learn from our failures. We can “consider it all joy when we face the trials” of life when we are searching for the spiritual lesson we can learn from, because those tests of “faith produce endurance” or staying “faithful until death.”

I’m reminded of two lessons that David learned from his mistakes: his adultery with Bathsheba and the census he took of Israel because of his pride. David may not have been expecting to hear a rebuke from the Lord because of his actions towards Uriah and Bathsheba, but Nathan approached him and told a parable about a rich man with many sheep taking the only sheep of his poor neighbor and used it to serve his guests. David was furious until he was told in that famous line in 2 Samuel 12:7, “You are the man!”

David was reminded of the need to humbly listen to God and learn. Later on, David decided against his counselors and took a census to see how big his kingdom was. His disobedience cost him the lives of 70,000 Israelites. He had remembered from previous errors and humbled himself and was willing to make a change.

David understood that to be repentant would cost him something. He responds to Ornan’s generous offer to supply the animal for the sacrifice to God by saying in 1 Chronicles 21:24, “No, I will surely buy [the animals for the sacrifice] for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing.” God wants us to want to please Him, or as Jesus stated, the greatest commandment was to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” There’s something about the effort we put into our relationship with God that begins to reveal more of who God is to us.

One of the keys to really understanding something is the seeking-to-understand process. When we realize the value in something, we’ll invest more of our time and energy in promoting it, obtaining it, and living it.

However, for many of us the hunger to understand more completely doesn't begin until we’re broke down enough to see the need for it. There is a reason that the redemption process revolves around repentance. A heart that is hard won’t understand the gospel and the heart that still seeks worldly fruit more passionately than spiritual fruit hasn't understood where their passion is leading them.

1 John 2:15-17, “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

When we are repentant, our heart wants to understand the good news and we demonstrate our hunger to understand by how we respond to it. Sacrifice leaves a bad taste in our mouths, but that’s only because Satan has twisted our understanding of how beautiful it is to give up all for God willingly. Jesus modeled that concept for us perfectly when he willingly went to the cross as a sacrifice for our sins.

Consider how many lessons you've learned in life that could have had a different outcome (or avoided all together) by simply trusting in God’s word and following the example of Jesus. Let’s be active in weeding out the distractions that crop up in our life and instead remain focused on the wonderful message of redemption through Jesus Christ.