Be Repentant
Deuteronomy 30:1-4, 6-8, 15-20
Since Watergate, we have been inundated with a parade of politicians, entertainers, sports personalities and religious leaders apologizing publicly and seeking redemption for a variety of wrongdoing. It has almost become the norm rather than the exception. I am often not sure whether the offender is truly repentant for the infraction or just sorry that he or she got caught.
This was not the repentance that Moses presented to the children of Israel. To repent is to stop what you are doing, accept responsibility for your actions or lack of action, seek forgiveness and go in a new direction. Moses knew that when the Israelites crossed the Jordan River into the Promised Land that they would face new challenges. He knew that they would be tempted to worship other gods and to fall into sin. He was pleading with them to remember who they were and what the one true God had done for them. He wanted them to choose life.
He let them know that he was not asking something from them that was too difficult for them. He told them that God was close at hand and that the Word was in their mouths and in their hearts. God is always available and ready to forgive. Following God was something that was a part of their entire being. Their walk with God was to be internalized and not just an add-on. Paul reflected this same idea in Romans 2:28-29 when he spoke of circumcision of the heart. Paul was saying that sin is to be separated from or removed from our hearts so that our hearts are pure.
We must accept personal responsibility for our actions. We cannot blame someone else for our transgressions. The woman in the television commercials who blames the cigarette company for her inability to quit smoking is a good example. In this life, we will always be faced with attractive alternatives to following Christ in our daily walk. It is easy to blame others for our weaknesses, but blaming others will not lead to repentance. We must accept responsibility for what we do. The old spiritual says it well: “Not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.”
One of the many things that I admire about legendary football coach Bear Bryant is that he never blamed anyone else for the rare losses of his Alabama football teams. He always took the blame. “They had bad coaching,” he would say in that gravelly voice. Personal responsibility was his trademark.
Moses wanted the children of Israel to be constant in their reliance on God. He wanted them to know that forgiveness is always an option and that God is always at hand. In the introduction to his new book, “Through the Year with Jimmy Carter,” the former president states it beautifully: “If there is one theme that keeps reappearing in these devotionals, it’s that God calls us to live out our faith. I don’t know what that might mean to you, but I do know that Jesus asks us to listen to his words and then to act on them.”
Carnell– Lessons in the ETB series for the winter quarter are being written by Mitch Carnell, member of First Baptist Church, Charleston.