1 John 2:1 “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.”
Imagine a world without repentance. It would be run by hypocrites, since repentance is what keeps us honest. Words like forgiveness, mercy and pardon would be foreign to our lexicon. The ugliness of pride would replace the beauty of grace. Our knees would not become calloused from too much prayer, but there would be innumerable cases of stiff-neck.
If you think bitterness is strong now, ramp it up 100-fold where people never say, “I’m sorry.” We would have no hope for our land to be healed because we’d be stuck in our wickedness. There would be no means for drawing close to God, no access to his heart. Even heaven’s joy would be diminished due to the lack of repentant sinners. And worst of all, the horrors of hell would be chomping at the bit for our arrival.
I don’t think that’s a world any of us welcome. But it seems more and more we speak less and less about repentance. It’s tough stuff. Who likes exposing their dark places to the light? It’s much easier to blame someone else or rationalize our behavior as not all that bad. Funny how often not all that bad mushrooms into stone cold hard bad. Eventually we become blind and deaf to the only good news that could set us free. Repentance keeps that from happening.
We are among the “dear children” John writes to in his first letter to the church. He assures us our sins have been forgiven. But he warns us about our susceptibility to the world, how it will tempt us with things like lust and pride. He tells us not to sin, but if we do, there’s a way back.
Repent!
Run to our Advocate! Run to Jesus! “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). That’s not religious jargon. It’s what keeps us on the road. It’s what picks us up when we fall.
Don’t live in a world without repentance. Turn around. You’ll find it’s not as hard as you think.