We serve a holy God. He is sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, and righteous. He is not “the guy upstairs” or the beneficent grandpa. The commandment says, You shall love the Lord your God. He is a jealous God. We must not have any other gods before Him. That means we need to keep our priorities straight and not entertain the idols that keep us from worshipping and serving Almighty God. His holiness is our measuring stick.
If we are truly in His will, we, without being overly legalistic, need to measure our lives according to scripture, prayer, good counsel, and constant worship of His majesty. It is, after all, how we will spend eternity in His presence. While he oversees us every day of our lives, even noting when strands of our hair drop, listens when we speak, even knows our whereabouts better than any GPS can possibly track us, knows, according to the Psalms when we sleep and when we rise up– there’s nothing artificial about his intelligence– we are loved and treasured by Him.
When we sin against Him, by our self-centeredness, our longing for things of this world rather than things from God’s word, when we waste our God-given time and talents and gifts, when we mess up our priorities, when we fail to notice and thank Him for our blessings, or when we outwardly or inwardly thwart His commandments, we need to confess our sins and repent. Whether our sins are omission or commission, they are sins, nonetheless. And without the presence of our Lord Jesus’ saving grace, we would be doomed to eternal punishment. Many who live among us are. The amazing thing is, our righteous, omnipotent God calls us to repentance, and in the season of Lent, it should be our time to self-examine ourselves and endeavor to follow Christ with more determination than before. We can be sure of God’s grace and mercy because of Good Friday’s sacrifice on our behalf. God loves us that much! He sent His only Son to die that we might live. That is the story of Lent and Easter.
The lovely book of Jude in the Bible puts it this way: “I am writing to all who are called to live in the love of God the Father and the care of Jesus Christ. May you receive more and more of God’s mercy, peace, and love.” (Jude 1-2)
MY PSALM 309 REPENTANCE
Dear Heavenly Father,
I come to You in repentance,
Asking forgiveness for the times I have lived my life
As I wanted to, not heeding Your laws and direction.
I make no excuses
Such as, “I didn’t know what I was doing,”
Or “I didn’t think anybody cared about me,”
Or “What did it matter what I did?
I didn’t hurt anyone,” or so I thought.
Now I know I betrayed You and hurt Your Kingdom
By ignoring the very laws of the universe,
By not embracing Your covenant promise
That You would be our God
If we promised to follow You.
Now that I know Your law is absolute,
That You are entirely holy,
That You created the entire universe
And I have a part to play in Your kingdom,
I need to repent. I beg Your forgiveness.
I now know that even the best of us
Cannot stand in Your Holy Presence.
I now know that without Christ’s salvation
I cannot even bow down in Your Presence.
I have not one plea, not one word I can speak
In my own defense, without Jesus’ pleadings
On my behalf.
Forgive me for my past sins,
For unfaithfulness,
For unworthiness,
For false motives,
For self-centeredness,
For ignoring Your Presence,
For dismissing Your influence
And for refusing the promptings of conscience.
I call out to You
In humble repentance,
With this plea:
Help my unbelief.
When I slip into my former ways,
Wake me in no uncertain terms
So I am aware of Your expectations.
Let me never forget
I can do none of this by myself.
I am sure to fail.
But give me Jesus’ strength,
And the Holy Spirit’s guidance
So that I can follow hard after You.
In Jesus’ redeeming power, I pray. Amen.
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