Repentance Is A Good Thing

Scripture

I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

~Luke 15:7, NIV

Quote

Repentance is good for you–You have to change the heart attitude.

~Stuart K. Weber

Repentance is not only ‘good for you,’ it is good for those around you and it is also good for heaven. If you want to stir heaven, repent of a sin or your sins. Even the angels rejoice when we repent and they don’t fully understand repentance. A friend was telling me this week about his sister who is an alcoholic. He said, “she gets drunk everyday.” I picked up the ALCAPS newsletter the other day and the first thing I noticed was: One in twenty deaths, worldwide, is caused by alcohol and yet Washington, TV and Hollywood glorify it. Have you noticed, not many who play the leading roll smoke in movies or on TV but they all drink like a fish. June and I watch the TV show NAVY SEALS and everyone of them is border line alcoholic, they drink for breakfast. I’m relatively sure some Seals drink but I doubt that all of them do. I would imagine that there is at least one Daniel among them. Can you tell me something good about drug addiction. Do you get some kind of sadistic pleasure in watching a person destroy their own life and the lives of those around them? Do you see where I am going with this line of thought? If an addict truly repented, don’t you see that it would set off a celebration that would thrill family members and even send shock waves to heaven. Don’t you know that a precious grandchild would be thrilled when her grandmother [who because of the death of the child’s mother, has become the child’s guardian and protector] repented and laid the booze down for good. I’m telling you, “Repentance is a good thing.”

Perhaps you are thinking: what about those who do not need to repent; the ones Jesus referred to, “the righteous who need no repentance.” This is where context is vital: Jesus is speaking to the scribes and pharisees. They were not truly righteous but they thought they were. Jesus is being satirical, he is speaking tongue in cheek. He said previously in Luke 13 that everyone must repent. The folks who feel confident about their own righteousness will obviously never repent. It is hard to get a self-righteous, religious church attender to repent of anything, even pride. You can’t even get them to confess a sin, let alone repent. Now, they are very good at confessing your sins which are so obvious to them but they don’t see their own sin. If you do not see any sin in your life, my advice for you is to watch the PASSION OF CHRIST or else take your bible and read about the crucifixion of Christ. Two things should convict you: HIS glorious perfection and your inglorious sins. If the CROSS doesn’t move you: there is no hope. Every time I read about the cross, see it enacted or even think about it, I repent. Repentance is a good thing: you cannot get to heaven unless you repent; you can’t commune with Christ unless you repent.

Just imagine that my little office building is the place of communion with Christ and I get to the door in the morning and there stands an angel with a drawn sword. He is intentionally blocking my access and he says to me, “Jack, you cannot get in unless you are willing to repent.” How long do you think it will take me to get on my knees? Not long, it will happen ASAP. I do not know how people can go for months, years or even a life time without repentance. They are existing, but they are not living. Real life in on the inside with Christ. The elder brother in Luke 15 never knew sweet communion with his father because he refused to repent and go inside the house: what a tragedy!

Big Mama and Wendy Hembree are having back procedures today. Big Mama in Cullman and Wendy in B’ham I think. Both have hardware and June’s has to be replaced. Say a pray for Wendy and June. It cooled off considerably but PTL the sun was out all day. Maybe that will enable the farmers to finish their beans. June and I saw 50 acres of soy beans this week that have not been touched. I don’t remember this happening before.

Top Ten Wealthiest Congressmen/Women 

1 Rep. Darrell Issa Republican California 283.3
2 Rep. Greg Gianforte Republican Montana 135.7
3 Rep. Jared Polis Democratic Colorado 122.6
4 Rep. David Trott Republican Michigan 119.1
5 Rep. Michael McCaul Republican Texas 113
6 Rep. John Delaney Democratic Maryland 92.6
7 Sen. Mark Warner Democratic Virginia 90.2
8 Rep. Vern Buchanan Republican Florida 73.9
9 Sen. Richard Blumenthal Democratic Connecticut 70
10 Sen. Dianne Feinstein Democratic California 58.5

Evenly split–five Demos and five Rhinos. None of the ten should accept a salary. Matter of fact, all of them should donate 50 million per for the construction of the wall.

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