A Life of Repentance

Isaiah 30:14-16 (NAS)


“In repentance and rest you will be saved,
In quietness and trust is your strength.”
But you were not willing,

And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses,”
Therefore you shall flee!

“And we will ride on swift horses,”

Therefore those who pursue you shall be swift.

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Repentance is a vital part of Christianity, and we must take it from the time we make that initial commitment which results in us being made right with God through Christ, to being a way of life.

While most of us know the word repentance means to basically turn around and go the other way, it has a much deeper meaning when we talk about the object of our repentance, which is of course, Christ.

That's what I want to encourage you with today. Repentance is a continual turning to Christ throughout our lifetimes. Not for the purpose necessarily of turning from sin and self (although they are a part of that), but in the end, it's a continual beholding of Christ.

In the verse from Isaiah above, we see four encouragements from the prophet. They are repentance, rest, quietness and trust.

Those who live in a state of repentance or continual turning to the Lord, are admonished to rest, which means ceasing from our own labors. That's ultimately what the spirit of the Sabbath really means.

They there is quietness, which refers to closing out all the stimulants and interference of that which is in the world and anything without, in order to be able to continue to dwell in the presence of Christ.

By anything without, I mean the endless number of distractions we face in our daily lives, which if we allow to overwhelm us, shuts us off from the presence and practical union with the Lord, because we continually dwell on them, rather than resting quietly in Christ.

That can be learned to do while we work, take care of issues, and any other thing that we face in life.

Amazingly, as with Israel at that time, so today, many simply refuse to walk in this way before the Lord.

Only the resources of Christ within us can answer to the difficulties in life we face, and it's the refusing to trust in what the Bible calls horses (and sometimes horse and chariots), which we must embrace.

Our faith and trust must be in the living Christ, not in any external resources we are looking to. That's not to say Jesus doesn't use external things, but only that our trust can't be in that, as it's the Lord who delivers, and none other. He allows no glory to be given to another.

We are to look to the Lord as our resource for all things, and from there He will perform His word and will.

But even taking all that into account, by far the most important thing is to simply and continually look to the Lord in love and fellowship within, and quiet ourselves from the endless storms of life that will swirl around us until we leave this world.

This is the ultimate of repentance is about. Not to simply turn from this world and self, but to turn to continually to someone, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.