Repentance...

As I was reading the other morning, I came across this daily devotional excerpt from My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers. This little book has become a favorite reading of mine, especially during the weekly laundry mat trips over the summer. We began to conserve water during some drought conditions by taking laundry to town to wash. And its such an interesting place to go, I've kind of continued going for big things like blankets, comforters, etc.

Here goes the reading for Dec. 7th:

"REPENTANCE For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation. 2 Corinthians 7:10 Conviction of sin is best portrayed in the words -"My sins, my sins, my Saviour,How sad on Thee they fall."Conviction of sin is one of the rarest things that ever strikes a man. It is the threshold of an understanding of God. Jesus Christ said that when the Holy Spirit came He would convict of sin, and when the Holy Spirit rouses a man's conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God - "against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight." The marvels of conviction of sin, forgiveness, and holiness are so interwoven that it is only the forgiven man who is the holy man, he proves he is forgiven by being the opposite to what he was, by God's grace. Repentance always brings a man to this point: I have sinned. The surest sign that God is at work is when a man says that and means it. Anything less than this is remorse for having made blunders, the reflex action of disgust at himself.The entrance into the Kingdom is through the panging pains of repentance crashing into a man's respectable goodness; then the Holy Ghost, Who produces these agonies, begins the formation of the Son of God in the life. The new life will manifest itself in conscious repentance and unconscious holiness, never the other way about. The bedrock of Christianity is repentance. Strictly speaking, a man cannot repent when he chooses; repentance is a gift of God. The old Puritans used to pray for "the gift of tears." If ever you cease to know the virtue of repentance, you are in darkness. Examine yourself and see if you have forgotten how to be sorry."

I was so taken aback from this writing that day. My heart was quickened and I felt that all too familiar 'check' in my spirit, knowing this was written for me to 'chew on'. That last line that urges us to "examine yourself and see if you have forgotten how to be sorry' just hit a strong chord inside of me. How subtle is the err of our ways to become insensitive to the conviction the Holy Spirit may bring! It's almost unnoticeable some times, isn't it? Perhaps you haven't been in that place but I have and I don't want to remain there. I don't want my heart to become hardened at any time. For if it becomes protected in any area, then my Lord is effectually placed on the outside as well. I want to sense His presence and to walk in His light always. I cannot do that without repentance.

Next time God prompts that little 'check' in your spirit, immediately heed His call. Pray for that 'gift of tears' and accept repentance as His gift.

Dear Jesus...please forgive me for the times I have failed you and gone about in my own way. Bring me to place of repentance before You, where You not only forgive but also purge me from all unrighteousness as Your Word says You will do. I need your forgiveness but am even more desperate to have what is unrighteous within me removed all together. Help me, Lord! I am nothing on my own but everything can be accomplished within You!