Season 3 Podcast 179 Some Random Thoughts on Repentance
Random Thoughts on Repentance
ONE
Those who stray from the law leave the path, and law cannot bring them back. Christ alone can bring them back. Repentance brings one back under the safety of the law and places one back on the road to sanctification and on the path to spiritual perfection through the grace of Christ. Repentance helps us to continually adjust our course and stay on that correct path. The law of mercy does not play the game of three strikes and you are out. Through the grace of Christ, we are all given the gift of repentance throughout our probationary state. Just as salvation is free, the gift of repentance is free; however, as with salvation, we must accept the gift of our own freewill and abide by its conditions, or it is as if no gift were given.
TWO
The image we have been given of the way of salvation is the strait and narrow way. Strait can be spelled S-T-R-A-I-T which means a narrow body of water between two larger bodies of water. In the Holy Bible, it is a symbol for baptism.
14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. (Matthew 7:14)
Sometimes it is spelled S-T-R-A-I-G-H-T which means without a bend or curve, Direct, Continuous, Honorable, Upright, Honest, etc. Sometimes, when we divagate from that path, it is hard to find our way back. But the Lord has shown us the way. Christ said,
“I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)
Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us to
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
In other words, he will keep us on the straight and narrow path.
THREE
In addition to being supported in the conflagrations of our own effulgent afflictions, if we endure to the end, we are promised eternal life with God. All laws of God are designed for our progression through our agency. Repentance is a choice that only we can make. No one can repent for us. Obedience to law increases freedom, agency, liberty, happiness, intelligence, consciousness, light, truth, and perfection—all attributes necessary for our progression and happiness. Those are not material things. In fact, it was Christ who declared:
“for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.” (Luke 12:15)
FOUR
Disobedience to law restricts the amount of truth we receive which means a reduction to progression: to freedom, to agency, to joy, and to perfection. Christ is the gateway to life, liberty, and happiness. Unless one repents and calls upon Christ, one cannot bypass justice and return to the presence of God where one will once again have access to the perfection of God, thus giving one eternal joy.
FIVE
In our journey on earth, we make lots of mistakes; therefore, the greatest gift of all is repentance. Repentance allows us to constantly correct our course. We do not want to be found with our lamps empty when the bridegroom comes. Repentance is an act that only we can do. We alone choose whether or not to repent. Repentance is part of the law of agency. We must take the first step, thus, as with all laws, preserving our agency. The key to understanding law is agency. Without agency, law would be far simpler. However, without agency, what would be the point of law? We would be of no more consequence than a lamp post.
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