I know, repentance isn’t your favorite word. It’s not mine either. No doubt it conjures up something like an angry turn-or-burn “preacher” (either pounding the pulpit or screaming in the streets) letting people have it or an ultra-fundamentalist family member unhappy with your choices of what’s right or wrong. Despite the bad taste that might be lingering in your mouth for words like “repent” and “repentance”, let’s together seek to move past those barriers and rediscover what God actually says about repentance. It might never be for your favorite word or your favorite part of being a Christian, but as we look into God’s Word I think we’ll see that repentance is meant to be a life-giving, sin-replacing, gospel-rooted posture of the Christian life. Easy? No. Good? Yes.
Category: Discipleship
Three Identity Struggles
Discipleship is essentially following Christ for the purpose of maturing in Christ-likeness. Disciples rediscover and then faithfully live in light of their identity in Christ. Or to say it differently, discipleship is the process whereby we’re remade and we regain who we were created to be as image-bearers of God by being transformed into the image of Christ.
If believers have a new identity in Christ why don’t we live it out? Obviously layers of answers could be offered here related to doctrines of sin, sanctification, and glorification so let me narrow the question. What are a few identity issues that keep Christians from understanding and living out the reality of who we are as a new creation in Christ?
Fresh Air in the Atmosphere of Trinitarian Grace
“To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion…according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in the sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.” (I Peter 1:2)
Throughout his first letter, Peter regularly reminds his readers that their suffering, their rejection, and the way they stand out as exiles is normal. The kingdom of light is no more welcome to a kingdom of darkness than the bedroom light being turned on first thing in the morning is welcomed when I’ve been sleeping. And yet, as elect exiles they are God’s people. Though kicked to the curb by the world we are called into a new family and given a sense of belonging by our Triune God. We are now his people, and even as we struggle in a world that is not for us we are equipped and empowered by a God that is for us. Continue reading Fresh Air in the Atmosphere of Trinitarian Grace
Why We Need Promises
“The knowledge of the glory of God must be promising if it is to carry power. We must know it and believe that we are included—that the promises are ours, that the call is to us (cf. Ephesians 1:19).”[1] (John Piper)
