Not Just His Love, But His Authority

Recently, I was watching a concert that claims it wants to help people experience God and be liberated by Him. However, I cannot help feeling uncomfortable about the content of the “Word” the Pastor spoke of and the direction that the songs were leading the people into. This could indeed start out with a good intent to bring people to meet God, especially  when mental health issues are so prevalent now. But through this worship event, you can also see the reality of the trends that the world is taking and coursing people towards, even in the Christian world. For the concert, there was indeed an experience to be chased, but it clearly was not just about Jesus. And all around the world, there are many channels that talk about God’s love and grace and forgiveness and freedom in Him. People love this kind of talk. It softens the ground, it gives assurance, it feels embracing and not offensive. It makes the speaker look good to the hearers, and the hearers feel good about what is spoken. It makes loving God and our faith walk seem so comfortable and easy.

However, faith in Christ isn’t just like that. The gospel, in its core, is not just about making sinners feel good. It ultimately leads to repentance. It ultimately leads to the discomfort of knowing how we are constantly weak and at the brink of falling into temptations, thus the requirement of a God-reliant life. But the truth is, many times, we just want His love, but not His authority. We want freedom in Him from our problems, but not so much the rebuke when He calls us back from worldly desires. I speak from a place where I am still wrestling with this, as well. Daily, constantly, unconsciously at times. I wanted the grace message, but not the ones that challenge my heart too much. I wanted to pick up what I want, not put down what He is displeased with. This is a lifelong spiritual warfare, as Paul mentioned in Romans 7:18-20, “For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it.” Thus, instead of merely basking in God’s love and grace, we should all the more get back on our feet with it, and wage war against our worldly self, so that we do not “become a prisoner of the law of sin at work” within us. We have to be aware and equipped to put up a fight, lest we fall into a trap we did not even realise was there.

The reflective nature of repentance

Now in the New Testament, it did say that Jesus has already went on the cross for our sins and we now have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. So do we still need to repent before the Lord? Yes we do. As it says in 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” What God wants is the true repentance of turning to Him with our hearts. Not merely a one-off repentance, not merely by lip service or by a show of behaviour. If not, we will merely be the same as we were before, the same perspective, same temperament, same lamentations, remaining in deep sins and no transformation within. So as we face God and bring up all that we have on our plate to the Lord, take a good look at the different roles and fields in our lives. Are there areas that require healing as we get honest convictions from the Holy Spirit? If it is spousal relationship, are there areas we have not respected each other for or taken for granted? How does God guide us to look at and treat our spouse? And how about in areas of serving? Are we feeling bitter or prideful at times? Are sometimes judgmental or feeling lacking? Are we connecting up everything we do to and for the Lord? Or is it for other purposes? Repentance before the Lord brings us into God’s authority and power where He hand us a mirror for us to reflect on our lives and our spiritual state. No one can give us a clearer and more forthright advice than God ever can, since He has seen the depths of our heart and the corners of our mind.

The beauty of God’s authority
As we do so, we will find a few things happening in our walk into the beauty of God’s authority, just as David has experienced in Psalm:
Knowing our sins well and asking for God’s mercy
When the prophet Nathan came to David after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba, David said in Psalm 51:1, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.” God blots out our past mistakes not because we are doing well or better now, but it is according to His abundant mercy. That is the first thing we have to affirm. And in Psalm 51:3, he continue to say “For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.” Here, he recognises where his sins dwell. Not just the adultery with Bathsheba, not just killing Uriah, but knowing how he was led to the present state. That he has already been distant from God and started being proud and complacent. Similarly, let us also reflect with the help of the Holy Spirit, if we are also led to certain weaknesses and spiritual indifference because of some root causes of sins over a course of time. Let us be aware of our sins and ask for the Lord’s mercy.

Cannot find excuses before the Lord
Then in Psalm 51:4, it says “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.” Therefore, we no longer have anymore excuses before the Lord. We acknowledge that we have our selfish needs or challenges that cause us to act up in anger, with pride and such, God rebukes us in His righteousness and He is right. We may have our reasons, our circumstances, our struggles, but those should not be excuses for us to sin. When we say things like, “that is just how I am”or blaming on the situation, we cannot grow a repentant heart to be renewed in God.

Developing a deep sense of contriteness
Next, now that we are repentant before the Lord, how much should I repent? Now God is not asking for a quantity, but the quality of our repentance. This means, God wants a genuine contriteness in us. A contriteness that knows we have fallen short of the Lord. Not self-blame, self pity, feeling guilty or shame, but knowing we have displeased the Lord with our sins. That is how when God convicts us in the Holy Spirit, we will truly be willing to listen, to submit and to accept the way He wants to mould us. Like at times, the way I speak to my children, may put them down while making my own needs seem more important. This has led to them easily throwing tantrums. Is this the way God would have me be a blessed mother to my children? When I truly feel the nudge of the Holy Spirit to see where I have fallen short before the Lord, I then have the heart and spiritual drive to change the way I nurture them. And surely, I saw how God worked things out for my interaction with them.

Hearing the joyful voice of God
Finally, as we continue our journey of repentance before the Lord, we will hear the joyful voice of the Lord upon us. Like David mentioned in Psalm 51:8, “Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.” Where does the joy come from? Is it because problems have been resolved? No. It comes from our heart fully receiving God’s mercy and our hearts are no longer feeling rebuked, knowing we have received the Lord’s forgiveness. But you may say, “I have already confessed my sins to God, yet I still do not feel this joy. Why so?” Then we may have to ask if we have truly confessed from our heart or is it merely words? We can say that we are no longer angry with a person, but we will know that within us, there is still bitterness towards him or her. That is why joy cannot meet us. Brothers and sisters, the Lord knows our heart. If we truly forgive a person or bare our hearts before the Lord, no matter how much another person has responded to us before or what wrongs we have done, we accept God’s plans for us after we have faced Him and we affirm that God loves or the other person we are forgiving. From the time we accept the embrace of God, the joy of the spirit will come in as well.

So brothers and sisters, may we really enter true repentance in our daily living and let it apply to all corners of our lives. Whether we are new or long-time believers, the problem of sin has to be something we focus on and cannot underestimate. The Lord has already provided directions for us. We may all have different circumstances, but may the Lord meet you at your situation and may you receive His guidance through the Holy Spirit. For areas we have to truly be contrite about, the Lord knows. So let us submit to Him and we will surely hear His joyful voice in our spirits. May we all receive this joy in our journey of enjoying the Lord’s authority over us. God bless.