| How We Are Saved, Part 6: Man's Viewpoint - A Change of Mind |
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| Written by David Lawrence |
| Monday, September 22 2008 00:00 |
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As we perceive our journey to Christ, paramount is faith or trust in Christ: relying on his doing and dying for our eternal destiny. We have seen that we must acquire a knowledge of the One in Whom we are to place our trust. Also, we must realize that we need a savior and that there is a radical problem in our lives that can be fixed in no other way than by Jesus. Along the way there will come a change of mind and heart. What the Bible calls repentance is simply a translation of a Greek word for change of mind. When the Jews assembled for their Pentecost celebration forty days after Jesus’ death, they knew that this good man had been put to death. Peter convinced them that they stood guilty before God, and they experienced a realization of the depth of their need. Scripture says that they were “cut to the heart,” and they asked what they should do. Peter’s response included the command to repent with the end in view of the forgiveness of their sins. (Acts 2:14-41 for the context, v. 38 for the citation; baptism, omitted here, will be discussed next week). This change of mind is the result of a genuine sorrow for offending God (2 Cor. 7:10). We regret our neglect of God and His will for our lives. We are sorry for thinking that we could live without Him, that we could handle life on our own. We are sorry that our plans and purposes did not focus on Christ and the glory of God. We see our own selfishness and we regret it deeply. Repentance, it is said, is the flip side of faith. Faith is a positive trust in Christ; repentance is negative in nature, a turning away from a godless life. Repentance and faith co-exist; one cannot be truly found without the other. Why and how could we trust in the Savior when we feel no remorse for failing to do so? And how could we be truly sorry for our life of rebellion against God without doing what we now know we must do to find forgiveness? Peter said, “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord…” (Acts 3:19). Our minds change, and we have a new mind, a new way of looking at life, at God, at ourselves and others. |
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