DON'T JUST BE SORRY

Well hello there!

How are you doing today?

Welcome to today's gist. 

I was recently thinking about 2 disciples of Jesus and I want to share something that I realized. Please stay with me. 

Enter Exhibit A, Peter.

Here's a man who had walked with Jesus for 3 years, showed the most zealousness in his followership of Jesus, in fact he was the one who once called Jesus aside and 'quarrelled' Him for saying He would be killed. And when the mob came to arrest Jesus, na him quick commot sword slash person ear! 

Yet this same guy stood before slaves and servants and denied Jesus. Not once but thrice! That's betrayal if I ever saw one. 

Now enter Exhibit B, Judas. 

Here's another man who had walked with Jesus for the same 3 years as Peter, in fact he was the keeper of the Ministry's purse, that's a place of trust and a really important office. 

Yet what does he do? He goes to sell Jesus to the Jewish Council for 30 silver pieces knowing that they intended to kill Jesus. Of course that's betrayal!

One other similarity Peter and Judas have is that they both came to a point of remorse: for Peter it was when the cock crowed, for Judas it was when he saw Jesus being condemned to death by the Jewish Council. 

Then comes the difference between Peter and Judas: when Peter realized his sin, he showed his remorse by weeping and repenting but Judas showed his own by first trying to return the money to the Council and when they refused to collect the money, he threw it at them and proceeded to hang himself. 

This difference between Peter and Judas is very instructive and when I thought about it, I realized that remorse for sin must end in repentance. It is not enough to merely feel bad that we have fallen short, it must translate into repentance. 

Without repentance, merely feeling bad about sin does nothing for our spiritual state. We must repent of the sin. Reconciliation with God can only come when we confess our sin to Him, ask for forgiveness and make the effort to change. 

As I thought about it, I realized that Jesus hadn't died yet, Judas could very well have gone to Jesus and asked Him for forgiveness, after all a thief received redemption while on the cross, but he decided to handle it by himself and what did that get him? Death, here and in eternity. 

No one can receive redemption from sin by trying to do it their own way, it's impossible! We can't attempt hide sin from God or pretend away its existence yet hope that somehow things would iron themselves out, it won't work. 

After Peter repented from his sin, God still used him mightily for The Kingdom. This tells us that the fact that we've fallen doesn't mean we can't be forgiven and redeemed, it means that we must be willing to sincerely seek forgiveness and repent of the sin. 

God knows how flawed you are, yet He's interested in a relationship with you, He's willing to forgive you. You must be interested in a relationship with God and seek to turn away from sin and to God. When you ask Him for forgiveness, He'll forgive you. 

I hope you learned something from my very jumbled thoughts, see you next week!

Love, 

Achenyo.