25Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
The Word of God will cleanse us and keep us pure. I have been doing a lot of studying and meditating on what it means to repent. The Bible says that if we repent of our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us AND to cleanse us of unrighteousness.
But what if we do not repent?
What is we see what Jesus said about worry, and yet we make some excuse and worry anyway, refusing to let the water of the word wash us clean of it?
What if we see what the Bible says about gossip, and yet we do this sinful practice without restraint.
What if we know what the Bible say about loving our brother and we chose to despise them instead.
What if the Bible is speaking against immoral living and we chose to mock God and despise his Word and treat it with contempt?
I have come to realize that repentance means that we acknowledge that our ways are wrong and sinful, and we ask God to change us, to transform us by the power of His Word so that we can be obedient to His Word. When we justify our sin, make excuses for our sins, ignore what the Bible says, or chose to disagree with the Bible or treat God's Word with contempt we have failed to repent of our sins.
We have this promise, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.
For far too long the church has worried, murmured, walked in strife and contention, and failed to love their fellow mankind. In short the church has walked in sin and have refused to call these things sin or acknowledge their need for repentance.
God wants to cleanse us of all unrighteousness and to present us to himself without spot or wrinkle. Have you ever had a spot or wrinkle you were trying to get out of a garment? It takes effort to get a spot of wrinkle out of your clothes. It doesn't just happen on accident. Can we join together in a time of repentance? Sometimes we look at that little spot or wrinkle in our lives and we think it is OK, it's not that bad and yet that is the very thing that is destroying us and making us unhappy and unfruitful.
PLease join me in repentance today: Lord, search my heart and cleanse my life. Let my heart, mind and soul be pleasing in your sight. May all my actions glorify you, and forgive me of those things that grieve you. I believe your Word and I ask you to line my life up with your Word, change me and mold me into the image of the Word of God. Sanctify me Holy and keep me by your grace. In Jesus name. amen.
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