Blackaby describes this very well. I had been looking for something on this and today, here it was, from Experiencing God Day by Day.
"Our problem is that we think of repentance as something negative. When we recognize our sin, we prefer to “rededicate”our lives to God. We may even tell others we have resolved to be more faithful to God than we were before. Yet the Bible does not speak of rededicating oneself. It speaks of repentance! Repentance indicates a decisive change, not merely a wishful resolution. We have not repented if we continue in our sin! Repentance involves a radical change of heart and mind in which we agree with God's evaluation of our sin and then take specific action to align ourselves with His will. A desire to change is not repentance. Repentance is always an active response to God's Word. The evidence of repentance is not words of resolve, but a changed life."
It's no wonder so many have no real signs of growth. It's no wonder that in my own life, for so long, not much had happened.
Note the part that I highlighted in italics.
Many take another passage where Jesus answered someone telling them that the greatest commandment was to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and Spirit. And the second was to Love your neighbor as yourself. They twist that passage to mean to just accept people in the state of sin they are in rather than show them the way to repentance.
To see that practiced sin in their life as something needing repentance of. People in darkness were shown a great light, is what it says in John. What were they shown? Their deeds, their sin. What was the call of John the Baptist? To turn to God, to repent. After John the Baptist, what was Jesus's message? Repent.
In Romans it mentions to us to not stay in our sin that the grace we are given would increase. To repent is to turn away from, do a 180 and go the other way. To not stay in that state. To agree with God.
Perhaps one of the greatest of our day is homosexuality. The Bible is clear on this...people engaging in this will never see Heaven. Never.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."
The part "but you were washed, sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God" means these people agreed with God on the state of their sin and repented.
They did not continue being those kinds of people but turned away from that sin and turned to the living God.
So what kind of people ought we to be?
Repenting people. People who regard sin as God calls it. Any sin is offensive to our Holy God. People on Twitter take to attacking people who tell them what the truth of God says about homosexuality.
Recently I have had a few try to point fingers back at me about other things written in the Law from the Old Testament. I don't live under the Law. In Christ the Law was fulfilled. Only in Christ has the Law been fulfilled. Because only Christ could fulfill the Law. Nobody else can. So in Christ I am able. On my own. No.
We are indeed to love the sinner, but hate the sin. We convert nobody. We show them the way to Jesus. Only Jesus saves anyone.
Deep inside everybody who practices any form of homosexuality, the whole gender change thing, all who would pervert what God established in Adam and Eve, all those people know it's wrong. Look at the mortality rate of those who push for gender reassignment surgery. They commit suicide. It's more evidence that that path is wrong. It should not be accepted as normal. God doesn't make mistakes in what gender someone is born as.
The solution is to come to Christ.
The solution to being who you really are is found in a right relationship with Jesus.
It's not found in willful, sinful behavior.
Romans 6 "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?"
So yes we are to love people as Christ does, but we should not condone what they do when it comes to sin. It does not mean we shun them. It also does not mean we support them in their sin. They need to know they need to repent. There's no room for a Christian to be walking in gay pride events. There's no room for Christians to simply be silent.
Having the life raft and seeing someone drowning and not tossing it to them just guarantees they will die in the state they are in. Value them as a person to throw them the lifeline and show them the way to safety.
Someone showed it to you. Someone cared enough to toss you the life raft of Jesus at some point in your life if you are indeed a Christian.
I care enough to toss it to any willing to take it. Repentance is needed. Acknowledging sin as it is in God's eyes is necessary. Turning away from it is necessary. Asking His forgiveness is necessary. Else you will have greater troubles than you have now.
This isn't a onetime thing. This repentance is a daily, all day thing.
In the Old Testament people were instructed to write things down and tie them to their garments, so they they wouldn't forget.
So consider your life. Consider just what you have been doing. Consider the fact that all those types of people mentioned in Corinthians have selfishness, self-centeredness as their problem. They do what pleases themselves in defiance of what God says.
Are you living for you or are you living for God?
I'm living for GOD !!
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