Repentance...What Is It? Part III

2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." From what I see, there are three things that lead us to salvation. One is God's longsuffering. Bruce and I have been told by family before that we are not tolerant enough of people. But it's hard to be tolerant of people who refuse to live the way God plans. They ask you for advice or tell you their troubles, and when you give them good advice, straight from the Bible, they won't take it. They want the humanistic advice because it fits into their comfort zone or they begin seeking out scripture to justify their behavior. That's actually pretty tolerable. People make bad decisions. Their worlds fall apart and as Christians, we are to be there to help restore them back to the family of God. But when they don't learn from their actions and repeat the pattern over and over, well, that's pretty INtolerable! But God, in all of His grace beyond our imagination, sees us falling farther and farther from His glory, and waits. Waiting for us, the prodigal son, to come home. Sometimes we end up in the very middle of the hog pin, but He is ALWAYS waiting for us to come home in true repentance.

Romans 2:4 "Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance." The second thing I see leading us to repentance is God's goodness. When I look back on my life and the times I was doing things I shouldn't, I am amazed at how God continued to be good to me, even though I didn't deserve it. There were times when He could have taken things away from me. There were times that God protected me when He really didn't have to. He could have snuffed out my life in an instant. But He didn't. And all the while, although I refused to admit it to anyone, in my heart I knew I was wrong. And yet His goodness kept me in reach of His amazing grace. I wonder how many blessings I missed during those times. True repentance will shine a light on God's goodness to our life.

Acts 2: 37,38 "Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." Peter was explaining Pentecost when the people were pricked in their heart. They were convicted. If we have ever been convicted of anything, we have experienced that same pricking. It doesn't feel good, does it? It feels like something has to be done in a hurry or we're going to bust at any moment. But what can be do? Well, Peter said it in verse 38...REPENT! Things seem different in the light of repentance. All of those restless days and nights leading up to it seem so distant. Nothing else matters. We've come home to the Father.