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Repentance: The Key to Refreshing — Week 1 By Sandra Kay Williams, State President, California-Nevada “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19). Repent? I’m a Christian. I’m not living in sin. I don’t smoke, chew or run with them that do. I’ve been a good church go-er. Why do I need to repent? The last time I checked there was only ONE recorded in the Word who was perfect and that was Christ, not one of us. Until we are fully redeemed out of this world at His second coming, we will all be in need of forgiveness. We don’t give our hearts to Jesus and lose the capacity to sin. Unfortunately, we all fall short of His glory and perfection (Roman 3:23). We must re-evaluate each day, search our hearts and see if there is any attitude, behavior, thought, or word that is out of line with His ways. If you can do that everyday and honestly say to yourself that you don’t need to repent of anything, then I’d like to meet you. Actually, if you really believe that of yourself, you’re deceived. If any man says he has no sin, “he is a liar and the truth is not in him.” My son Austin recently described a boy in his class at school who seemed to think pretty highly of himself. They were sharing a devotion for the combined 6 th grade classes at Fresno Christian School and had decided to sing a song as part of their presentation. Matt got up and told the group that the kids in his class were probably really excited to get to hear him sing again but “you in this class will get to hear my singing voice for the first time.” Austin said, “Mom, I was so embarrassed.” I believe God must get embarrassed too when we think more highly of ourselves than we ought. When we begin to think that we are God’s gift to the church, we need to repent. You may think this doesn’t happen to godly leaders. Looking back I can see times in my life where I had those kinds of attitudes. But pride cometh before a fall. Literally, I fell from my self-made pedestal of pride and was humbled in a most holy and painful way. For most faithful church attenders, the obvious no-no sins we stay away from – like anything that looks like the world (drinking, smoking, partying, etc.) we avoid. We want to maintain a certain appearance of holiness. But underneath the surface can be a dark pit of pride that tells us we are better than that sinner at the altar. Or what I call the Elijah complex that says, “I’m the only one that’s good, Lord.” Oh, I pray I don’t have to learn this lesson again. Pride has been a reoccurring issue with me and has kept me at times from the refreshing and closeness that He desired for me. The self-righteous pride in me said:
There is a popular song on KLUV that says, “Don’t look at me, if you’re looking for perfection. I’ll try to point you in the right direction but don’t look at me. I will only let you down.” That’s how I feel. In each of those instances the Lord lovingly reproved me of my prideful way of thinking and drew me to Him as I repented. Without going into a full blown account, I took a physical fall that changed my life. I have a painful reminder each day not to fall into the sin of pride again. Maybe your issue isn’t pride but something else like lust, unholy secrets, rebellion, addictions, disobedience, ugly attitudes and any number of sins that are common to even Christians. I urge you to REPENT so that you may find a time of refreshing in the presence of the Lord. Prayer: Precious Father, I long for a time of refreshing in Your presence. Please don’t let any sin keep me from the blessings You have prepared for me when I obey. I repent today of every wrong attitude, misguided thought, or careless word that brought shame to my witness for You. Thank You for refreshing me with Your presence.
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