Embracing Repentance

I am reading from Paul's letter to the Colossians 1:9-14 NIV:

[9] "For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, [10] so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, [11] being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, [12] and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. [13] For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, [14] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins."

What a great set of verses, what a great encouragement!  Oh that we would offer continual prayer asking for God to fill us with His wisdom, the knowledge of His will, and the understanding brought by the Holy Spirit.  Being filled with His wisdom means learning to think like He thinks.  When that occurs we start to understand His will, which is exactly what the Holy Spirit does - He provides understanding of the deep things of God.

When we take on the mind of God, our actions will change.  Again, this is the very definition of repentance - changing the way we think and act.  So often we associate repentance with bad behavior and sin, and it is applicable there, but it is probably more applicable to learning to think and act like Christ, that which we are called to do.  Repentance should become a positive word in our vocabulary, for it should mean that we are working to become like Christ in all things, and recognizing that we need to change, which is a good thing.

The more we think and act like Him, the more fruit we will bear, the more we will know Him.  The more we know Him, the more He will release to us authority and power, for He knows that we will represent Him accurately.  His desire is that we all operate in the same mode that He did, and in the same attitude.  We are called to join Him, who is our first-born brother (Col 1:18), taking our place in the Body of Christ, and representing Him to all we meet.

The more power and authority He releases the greater our endurance and patience.  We realize that He is our source of strength and power, allowing us to tap into Eternal Life, and the power that flows from His very throne.  When we see God move in power through us our right response should be thanksgiving to God. It is amazing to me that God allows us to be important and critical parts of His on-going ministry on the Earth.  We don't just get to do this here on Earth, but in all of eternity!

Finally, we are all, each and every one of us, rescued from the dominion of darkness.  We all have sinfulness in common (Romans 11:32), but rather than allowing that to be a point of shame, we should recognize that we are all in the exact same state.  Absent of our redemption we would still be there trapped in the enemies camp.  We are called  embrace the Kingdom of God made available to us in Christ.

Let us all encourage one another today, seeking to build one another up in our identities and purpose.  Let us embrace repentance, becoming like Christ!

Amen and Amen!