A friend was trying to explain repentance to his teen-age daughter. She is a believer but, like all of us, still must face the problems of life, and does so imperfectly at times. She had been rebellious of late and they were talking in the car about what she needed to do to get right.
As they approached the cross road, my friend deliberately turned the wrong way so that they were driving in the wrong direction, away from home. His daughters (all three were in the car) protested! "Daddy," they said, "You're going the wrong way! We'll never get home if you go in this direction!"
My friend kept on driving in the wrong direction! The further he went, the more concerned his children became. Finally, he asked them, "How can we get home from here?" They told him that he would have to turn around and go back down the road they've been travelling on. Delighted, my friend said to his teenager, "That's what repentance is and that's how you repent!"
As he turned into a nearby driveway and put his car into reverse so he could change direction, he suddenly found that his wheels were spinning on the snow and ice that had accumulated there and he couldn't back out onto the roadway! After several minutes (which seemed like hours to him), one of his daughters piped up and said, "Daddy, if you go forward the driveway runs behind the house and comes up on the roadway on the other side." He followed her directions and all was well!
He turned to his older daughter and said, "It's that way with repentance too. Sometimes we can't figure out how to get ourselves turned around and then we need help from others to get where we need to go." His daughter got the message and was so excited that she shared it with her youth group! How about you? Have you grasped the good news of repentance?
Dear FATHER, Thank YOU that there is a way back out of the messes I've made, into the Joy of True Life and Love in YOUR Mighty Will. I know the road of Life with YOU is paved by the Blood that YOU shed for each of us. Oh LORD JESUS, please help me to travel it Faithfully, without wavering. I Pray to YOU, JESUS CHRIST of Nazareth, in YOUR Mighty, Powerful and Precious Name. Amen.
Reading Numbers 21:1-10 this morning….
As they approached the cross road, my friend deliberately turned the wrong way so that they were driving in the wrong direction, away from home. His daughters (all three were in the car) protested! "Daddy," they said, "You're going the wrong way! We'll never get home if you go in this direction!"
My friend kept on driving in the wrong direction! The further he went, the more concerned his children became. Finally, he asked them, "How can we get home from here?" They told him that he would have to turn around and go back down the road they've been travelling on. Delighted, my friend said to his teenager, "That's what repentance is and that's how you repent!"
As he turned into a nearby driveway and put his car into reverse so he could change direction, he suddenly found that his wheels were spinning on the snow and ice that had accumulated there and he couldn't back out onto the roadway! After several minutes (which seemed like hours to him), one of his daughters piped up and said, "Daddy, if you go forward the driveway runs behind the house and comes up on the roadway on the other side." He followed her directions and all was well!
He turned to his older daughter and said, "It's that way with repentance too. Sometimes we can't figure out how to get ourselves turned around and then we need help from others to get where we need to go." His daughter got the message and was so excited that she shared it with her youth group! How about you? Have you grasped the good news of repentance?
Dear FATHER, Thank YOU that there is a way back out of the messes I've made, into the Joy of True Life and Love in YOUR Mighty Will. I know the road of Life with YOU is paved by the Blood that YOU shed for each of us. Oh LORD JESUS, please help me to travel it Faithfully, without wavering. I Pray to YOU, JESUS CHRIST of Nazareth, in YOUR Mighty, Powerful and Precious Name. Amen.
Reading Numbers 21:1-10 this morning….