Repent

The word repent translates metanoeo´, "to change one's mind." Not surprisingly, this word is rarely found in Classical Greek because "Greek society never thought of a radical change in a man's life as a whole, of conversion or turning around." In fact, the whole concept of conversion is not found in Greek thought, but is derived from the NT.

The idea in this word, then, is to turn around, change one's mind, relent, and in the theological sense involves "regret or sorrow, accompanied by a true change of heart toward God."

From A Word for the Day: Key Words from the New Testament.

I thought it is interesting that the concept of a complete turnaround was unknown to the Greeks.

Some years ago at my dad’s house we found an old report card of my sister’s. The grades represented were not very good. We started to show it to her kids and she got very upset and did not want them to see it. At first, I didn’t understand why a grown woman would care about her kids knowing that she wasn’t always an outstanding student.

After thinking about it I understood. She never had a complete turnaround in her life. There wasn’t a before and an after so her past lived in the present.

As a Christian, even though I am ashamed of a lot of my past, I realize it was before I came to Christ, before I repented for the first time. It doesn’t bother me that my kids know that I messed up in school and was a drug user. I can use these things both as a warning and as a way to show that God can change us.

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
1 Corinthians 6:9-11

Repentance is something we should live with each day because we sin each day. The great thing is that with repentance comes God’s forgiveness and cleansing. Amazingly, He doesn’t hold up the list of how many times we have done the same thing. He doesn’t point out that we said we said we were sorry yesterday and yet did it again. He gladly receives us and pours out His grace on us.

Wow!

Philip

Impulse

I did something dumb yesterday. It was an impulse; I acted without thinking. I was ashamed almost immediately. I thought about it all day. Last night in our Samson Society meeting, the discussion topic was pride. I knew I had to come clean.

Here is something Nate Larkin said on I, Samson that helped me understand myself. He was talking about the difference between Samson and David. It was about reflex verses reflection; just doing verses thinking.

Samson took on a very confrontational style. His first large scale provocation of the Philistines actually was an escalation of a cycle of confrontation that he had started by picking a fight. He started catching foxes and when he had caught 300 of them, he put them together in pairs, tied their tails together, tied torches to the tails, lit them and set the foxes loose in the Philistine fields. They responded in fury and they invaded.

Early on when he was a young man, he had developed the habit of wandering alone through Philistine territory looking for trouble…

I have done this a lot in my life. I’ve picked some fights with the enemy that got me in more trouble than I expected. Of course, I didn’t think about it so expectation of consequences wasn’t really part of it. I’ve also picked fights within my family. Done something or said something dumb and then been left with the consequences.

This is an area of my life where I would like to be changed. I need transformation so that my actions don’t harm my family or the cause of Christ. I don’t want to end up like Samson.

So here is the story: I went to the Columbus Day Parade in downtown Denver. One of my sons was with me. The American Indian Movement and various other radical and anarchist groups decided to block the parade route. The police were ready and cleared the street. The parade started and awhile later another group of them blocked the street again. A guy stood in front of where we were standing. He was obviously one of the organizers of the protest. I made a comment to him that it seemed that a lot of the protestors were professionals and weren’t really there because of Columbus but because they had some other beef with the city or with America in general. Then a woman joined him. She was taking pictures. On impulse I flashed my hand in front of her camera. She responded furiously, elbowing me in the chest. The guy then started yelling at me. Thankfully, there were police all around or something else might have happened.

I know it was a stupid thing to do and nothing good was accomplished by it. I could have gotten beat up.

I admitted what I did at the Samson Society meeting last night. One thing I knew is that I could be honest and someone wasn’t going to lecture me or rub my nose in it. I already knew what I had done was wrong. Now I needed someone to walk with me, pray with me and to hope with me for change. It made honesty easier. It made stepping beyond my pride easier.

I made a commitment in my mind that I would do the hardest thing imaginable; I would tell my wife. She already knows that I do many dumb things and it is hard to admit another one to her; but, I want change and transparency. I admit it to you as a reader of this as well. My first step toward freedom is confession. I make a step beyond isolation and pride. I admit I am flawed and need others to help me get beyond myself. It feels good.

I know that impulse can be good sometimes. It can be good to give money or a part of myself without thinking too much about what it will cost me. I need more of that and less of me going around making trouble.

Philip

Oatmeal

Last week I was talking with some friends and the subject of Bible reading and devotions came up. One of the guys said he thought it was good to start the day off with even a small section of Scripture. He went on to say that many times we feel we need to have a big study session in order to have an effective devotion. He disagreed with that although he said that those feasts are nice when they happen. He maintained that his day seems to go better and be more focused when he starts it off this way.

As I thought about that, oatmeal came to mind. To many people, oatmeal represents a very bland breakfast. At our house, we have a box of instant oatmeal. There are ten packets, eight that are flavored and two plain. It seems that when the box nears empty, the two plain remain. All are nutritious and it could be argued that the plain may be the most nutritious of all.

Some days when we open the Bible, we may have a breakfast of plain oatmeal. There doesn’t seem much to it and depending on the person, the taste is good, tolerable or nasty. Other days we grab one of the flavored packs and revel in cinnamon, apple, peaches or maple syrup. And of course some days we have sausage, hash browns, eggs, toast and orange juice.

What’s important is that we have something for breakfast; it starts the day out right. Less important is what we have.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16-17 ESV)

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12 ESV)

Philip

Pankration

Are you ready to rumble?

A few weeks ago I came across a daily devotional that has become one of my favorites. Called A Word for the Day: Key Words from the New Testament, it gives a word study and encourages application of the principles of one Greek word from the New Testament each day.

A couple days ago was the word that is translated wrestle in Ephesians 6:12: For we do not wrestle against people made of flesh and blood, but against persons without bodies--the evil rulers of the unseen world, those mighty satanic beings and great evil princes of darkness who rule this world; and against huge numbers of wicked spirits in the spirit world.

Here is what struck me from the reading:

Both ancient boxing and wrestling were horrendously brutal. In boxing matches, the "Greeks fought almost to the death with gloves reinforced at the knuckles with an iron band three quarters of an inch thick." The head was the only target, and "there was no rule against hitting a man who was down." There were no rest periods or rounds. The fight continued until one surrendered or was incapacitated. As the brutality increased in Greek times, wrestling and boxing were combined into a new contest, the pankration - from pas, "all," and kratos, "power," so literally, "game of all powers." Anything except eye gouging and biting was permitted, even kicking in the stomach. Some famous competitors won by breaking the opponent's fingers. One was noted for striking so viciously "with straightened fingers and strong sharp nails that he pierced the flesh of his adversary and dragged out his bowels."

That's why Paul says we are at war! As graphic and barbaric as the ancient pankration was, he says that we "wrestle" against an even greater spiritual foe. This fight is, indeed, "for keeps." It's not a "police action," a minor skirmish, a border dispute, or any such thing. It's an all-out war to the death. The devil has declared war on us, and we must do the same to him.

Maybe that's why many are drawn to various fighting competitions. We can live the battle vicariously and either imagine ourselves involved or pick up tips on strategy.

It is true that we can learn some spiritual principles from earthly battles. What we see with our eyes and understand about war can help us in the spiritual realm.

If you want to be involved in the ultimate fighting championship then take spiritual warfare seriously. You can be sure that the enemy of our souls does.

Philip