This theology is from a bumper sticker:
“If you’re headed in the wrong direction, God allows U-Turns”
-Sermons Illustrated May/June 1990
A small boy dialed
“0” and asked the operator to call a number for him. He didn’t speak
clearly, so she couldn’t understand him. After repeating it four times, he blurted
out, “You operators are dumb,” and slammed down the receiver. Hearing
this, his mother was shocked. She called the operator and made the boy apologize.
Later, when his mother left the house, the lad got on the phone again. “Is
this the same operator I talked to a little while ago?” “Yes,”
came the reply. “Well,” said the boy, “I still think you’re dumb!
That boy’s apology
reminds me of a missing element in the lives of many Christians – genuine repentance.
Facing up to sin is often forced on them by getting caught or by embarrassing
circumstances. But there’s no change of mind, no new action, no new motivation.
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Sermons Illustrated
Here is what Larry
King said of the most recent scandal to rock the evangelical world:
How sincere is
Rev. Swaggart?
Thoughts on the
Rev. Jimmy Swaggart, who this writer knows pretty well: I would buy all of the
sadness and tears and recriminations IF, and this is a big IF, Jimmy had come
forward with his problem before somebody had pictures proving it. Anybody can
be repentant when caught. Also, if he really wanted true forgiveness he could
donate his estate and all that property to some worthy charity. Give up all
his earthy goods. As Lenny Bruce once told me, “If Jesus Christ came back,
he wouldn’t own more than one suit as long as somebody in the world had no clothes.”
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From USA Today
3/7/78
Robert Falconer tells the story of his witnessing among destitute people in a certain city and of reading them the story of the woman who wiped Jesus’ feet with her tears. While he was reading he heard a loud sob and looked up at a young, thin girl whose face was disfigured by smallpox. After he spoke a few words of encouragement to her, she said “Will he ever come again, the One who forgave the woman? I have heard that He will come again. Will it be soon?” “He could come any time. But why do you ask?” Falconer replied. After sobbing again uncontrollably, she said, “Sir, can’t He wait a little while? My hair ain’t long enough yet to wipe His feet.”
The person who sees the greatness of his own forgiveness by God’s love will himself in love be forgiving. He forgives in love because his heavenly Father has forgiven in love and he desires to be an imitator of His Father.
Biblical repentance reestablishes credibility with the world and fellowship with the Lord. The seven “what’s” of 2 Corinthians 7:11 are seven marks of godly sorrow: (1) Earnestness to do right. (2) Eagerness to clear oneself through apology. (3) Indignation against sin. (4) Fear of God. (5) Intense desire to see right accomplished. (6) Zeal to correct what’s wrong. (7) Readiness to see that wrongdoing punished.
For Christians, repentance is an attitude of life. Daily we ask God’s Spirit to show us our sin. Then we work on overcoming it. May the ingredient of “godly sorrow” never be missing from our lives!