Repentance

Friday, March 1, 2013

Hosea 14:2-10 | Psalm 81 | Mark 12:28-34

ONLY ESCAPING OR ALSO LOVING?

‘Return to the Lord.” - Hosea 14:3

Like the prodigal son, we may have run away from home (Luke 15:13), done our own thing, and collapsed through our guilt (Hosea 14:2). We are sick of seeing pigs live better than we do (see Luke 15:16-17). Finally, we decide to get out of sin and ask for the Lord’s forgiveness.

The Lord rejoices to see us, for He wants to heal our defection and turn His wrath away from us (Hosea 14:5). He wants to love us more than we want to be loved. We are afraid of grasping fully “the breadth and length and height and depth of Christ’s love” (Ephesians 3:18). If we do, we will become aware of our responsibility to love the Lord with all our hearts, all our souls, and all our minds, and all our strength (Mark 12:30). To love like that, we would have to deny our very selves (see Luke 9:23). We would have to repent, not only because selfishness and sin are dead ends, but also because God is Love (I John 4:16), for He has loved us perfectly, constantly, and infinitely.

Does your repentance consist primarily of leaving the bad and self-destructive, or are you repenting in order to return to your Lord and your first Love? Are you trying merely to stay out of hell, or do you want to see Jesus face to face in heaven?

Prayer: Father, I want to love You more than just to escape the punishment I deserve.