Repentance. There’s a word
that is not understood by everyone. Here is a book that will help. The title is
simply Repentance.
But the subtitle tells you more: A
Daring Call to Surrender. It was written by C. John Miller, now with the Lord.
It’s a short book, with eight chapters,
with a final chapter written by his wife who provides examples of how her
husband applied repentance in his own life. You can read through them rather
fast, but I don’t recommend it. You will want think through what he is saying.
A lot of thinking.
The earlier chapters are
given to describing repentance, especially showing what it is not. After a short first chapter where
he writes of repentance as the foundation of our life (“no face-to-face fellowship”
with God, and an “unrepentant heart is self-satisfied, proud, and cold”), he
then spends a longer time contrasting it with penance. He describes penance as
an “attitude deeply rooted in the human heart which prompts men to attempt to
pay for their own sins by their good works and sufferings. Self-justification
is the goal of this effort.” Its focus is on man, not on God. Penance leaves us
“powerless and imprisoned”, rather than “bold and joyful for the things of God.”
Finally, penance also looks for a human mediator between man and God, rather
than the only mediator, Christ Jesus. People become attached to a religious
leader, rather than Christ.
Chapter 3 then describes true
repentance. Miller stresses the importance of the lordship of Christ as the
proper “motivation for changing one’s mind and life direction.” The call to
repentance, he explains, is for both unbeliever and believer. “Sin is sin
wherever it is found iand it is worse to find in the Christian. Therefore, He
especially zeroes in on loveless, complacent, and compromising members of the
household of faith.”
The remaining chapters then
show repentance in its connection to various aspects of Christian living. Here
they are in summary form:
Chapter 4: Repentance the Spirit-filled Life What
the Christian needs is to love the Lord Jesus, shown by loving obedience, and a
repentance that causes us to be “broken down before God.”
Chapter 5: Repentance and the Carnal Christian An excellent rejection of the common “carnal
Christian” category that modern Christianity promotes is offered. Paul calls
the Corinthians “carnal”, not because they are in a different group of
Christians but because they have unrepentant hearts. “So long as the man of God
continues to repent and cling to Christ for growth in grace, he is not carnal
in the Pauline sense.”
Chapter 6: Repentance and God’s Mercy Many who de-emphasize the need for
repentance point to the Gospel of John never even using the word. Miller shows
that the concept is clearly evident, even in the absence of the word itself.
Chapter 7: Repentance and Counseling There are several examples of counseling
experiences that the author shares where repentance was central to the
counselee’s problems being resolved. In some situations it was with people who
thought they were Christians, but were not. They needed to hear the gospel.
Other situations had people who were Christians, but needed to review the
gospel to see their need for repentance. We all need the gospel, both believers
and unbelievers.
Chapter 8: Repentance and Sharing Christ This was perhaps my favorite chapter because
it is my weakest link in Christian living. After stating that many Christians
think they are too weak to witness, Miller writes, “But in reality they are too
strong to witness. Not strong in the Lord, of course, but strong in themselves.
Naturally, they have a concern to protect themselves from the world, and they
do a good job of it. In fact, they protect themselves by never really getting
involved with sinners.” He goes on to explain how repentance will help us learn
to see other men compassionately, thus giving us a desire to share Christ with
them.
As I said at the beginning, this book not only needs to be read by every Christian, but read carefully and slowly, with the purpose of finding your own heart right before God.
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