‘The Sovereign Lord, the Holy God of Israel, says to the people, ‘Come back and quietly trust in me. Then you will be strong and secure.’ But you refuse to do it!’ Isaiah 30:15
Introduction
The call to repentance is at the heart of the gospel. It is one of the most consistent themes of the holy Bible. Jesus opened his ministry with the call: ‘Repent and believe the Good News’ ( Mark 1:15). This call is addressed to all without exception – rich and poor, great and small, and children, men and women alike. Repentance is an exciting and a joyous experience. In fact, it is the ultimate surrender of self, and God willed that the entire life of Christians be one of repentance because sinful tendencies remain to varying degrees in ordinary mortals. Repentance is not just an acknowledgment of and confession of sins; it is not simply feeling guilty about one’s sins and doing penance for them. It is not just an act but an attitude. It is a daily attitude, an ongoing process and perspective. A process by which we see ourselves day by day as we really are: sinful, needy and dependent people. It is also the process by which we see God as He is: awesome, majestic and holy. We will never be able to move into a deep relationship with God except we maintain an attitude of repentance. So let us take time this lent to examine and evaluate our spiritual condition and commitment to Christ.
Lenten Invitation
Every year, we are privileged to have a special liturgical period of forty days before Easter called Lent to evaluate our lives, reflect on God’s love in Christ and live in His presence, set our priorities right and our hearts on better and noble things. We remember during Lenten season that we are dust and on to dust we shall return, and so turn to the Lord of all goodness and ask for mercy and forgiveness. His presence is tremendously super and overwhelmingly wonderful, and He cannot be out done with generosity. God the Creator, is the Lord and lover of souls who gives life, maintains and sustains it, and returns it when it has been lost (Ezekiel 18:33).
Lent is a special time when God invites us to put more efforts and energy into our relationship with His Son Jesus Christ. Every day during Lent, Jesus invites us to come to Him, to turn our faces towards Him and look upon Him with faith. It is a time for us to pray: ‘Lord, make me know your ways’ in order to gain a deeper and more intimate relationship with God (Psalms 25:4). God’s ways are ways of love, truth, mercy, justice and peace; and this is the Good News that Christ preached: that forgiveness is available, recovery is possible and redemption can be achieved.
However, we observe that the world is in danger of being swamped by bad news. The ugly events and happenings of our times – brutal violence, religiously motivated terrorism, suicide bombings, natural calamities, ecological disasters and so many other ungodly and wicked activities leaves us feeling seriously challenged and humbled. We continue to see the impact that horrible diseases are having on our people. We see how drugs, alcoholism and substance abuse, compulsive gambling, cultism, and other addictions are placing distressing and crushing burdens on our families and the larger society. We also see how thousands of lives are perishing in the natural disasters around the world – floods, tsunamis, typhoons, draught, famines and earthquakes. The truth is that God sees our sufferings. He is filled with compassion for us and always ready to pour His grace over us. He wants to see us healed and restored. God wants to move closer to us, but the question we have to answer is: Do we want to move closer to Him? As we journey along lent, we pray God to challenge us and change us, develop the desire in us to be alone with Him in prayer, and longing to know Him better through His Word and spiritual meditations.
What is true Repentance and why is it vitally important?
Let us now take a moment to examine the important issue and meaning of repentance. The Greek word for repentance, metanoia, means a ‘change of mind’. A change from darkness to light, hatred to love and curse to blessing. Someone defines true repentance as ‘agreeing with God’. This is absolutely true and there is obviously no point disagreeing with God over anything because being God, He is always right. So we cannot argue with God or raise objections over issues that appear to threaten our ego and self-centredness. He is the lord of our lives, and that means we are no longer lord over our lives. Let us always do the right thing and stop rationalizing our decisions and behaviors, offering good reasons and unnecessarily bargaining with God. Our response to His call and challenge should not be one of resistance, rebellion and argumentation, but of godly sorrow and total submission. In the reflection book, Every Day with Jesus of January/February 1995, Selwyn Hughes categorically states that ‘when we repent, we adopt the attitude that God is right and we are wrong.’ In our commitment of the Christian life, submission is crucially essential as this sets the tilt of our souls in the direction of agreeing with God. Radical repentance is vitally important because it eliminates the effects of the shame, disgrace and guilt of sin in us.
Repentance is not a sad and negative thing as people often see it. It is not merely the feeling of guilt or being sorry for sin, but a joyous experience that elevates you to God and makes one to agree with divine principles and values. It is a process of discovering something wonderful about yourself; realizing and digging up your potentials; acquiring a new vision; taking a new direction, and living by better values.
Conclusion
While we constantly need to remember in our Christian struggle that our carnal nature may surface at any time to disagree with God.; the good news is that forgiveness is available, recovery and restoration are possible and redemption can be achieved through the grace of God. We all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. But we are still loved by God, and loved unconditionally, because His love, mercy, forgiveness are available to us through Christ Jesus. Therefore, Let us confess and recognize our need of Him, and seek His help with humility, while earnestly fasting, praying and doing works of charity with sincerity for divine mercy and healing upon our world. We must totally trust God, our only secured foundation and the ultimate guarantor of justice and peace. Happy Lenten season and God bless you.
Rev. Fr. Michael Adefemi Adegbola, Director Media Service Centre Kaduna, 2012
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