Thoughts On Repentance

Nate B., from Pulpit Magazine once said... “We are not saved on the basis of our works. We are saved, instead, on the basis of the finished work of Christ. But, in conversion, God gives us a new heart (through the regenerating work of His Spirit), with new desires. Those new desires consist (at least in part) of a love for Christ and a willingness to obey.”

Amen!

Why is it so hard to accept the fact that, just as the old nature made itself evident, so will the new?

I think Dr. Wayne Grudem summed up repentance best when he took his readers to Matthew 11:28-29. Jesus invites,in an evangelistic setting, people to come to Him, to take His yoke upon them, and to learn from Him. I did not know at the outset what Jesus would require of me in later years, and still don’t. I did not know at the outset How He wanted me to live, as taught in the Bible. It is all an ongoing learning process as He is my teacher. But, aside from the regenerating work of the Spirit how do I account for the desire to go on, even when facing trials much larger than I ever imagined possible for a Christian to go through?

Jesus, my Teacher, has taken me from the very early moments of my salvation experience right up to the present, some 35 years. The people who led me to Christ would today be classified as Lordshipers. They made sure that I understood that surrender to Christ as Savior would also be a surrender to Him as Lord. Doesn’t Luke 14 teach would-be disciples, those seeking salvation, to count the cost? I did. Who took me all this distance. Surely it wasn’t in my own strength or volition. I merely came to Him and took His yoke upon me and STARTED to learn from Him.