Did you know…
If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and entirely open at the top, in spite of its ability to fly, the bird will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly. He will remain a prisoner in a small jail with no top.
It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? And yet, in many ways, we are like the buzzard; struggling with our problems and frustrations, continuing to act and do as we’ve always done. We fail to realize that all we have to do is look up and make an adjustment each time we find ourselves caught in a mess!
Repentance is the activity of admitting our need to adjust our attitude and actions.
Our heart-felt repentance prepares us to adapt and learn to approach situations differently. God’s way of forgiving can restore us from our captivity to sin’s separation.
Forgiveness is God’s open invitation for us to escape into the freedom of salvation’s transforming way. An invitation, however, does not mean we automatically receive what God gives, or that offspring routinely become children who are disciplined by Father. We must choose to partake of salvation’s transformations. We do so by repenting.
As we know, our first parents, Adam and Eve, chose to ignore the instructions of God in the Garden of Eden.
The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely;
but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat,
for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die” (Genesis 2:16-17).
Sadly, as Adam and Eve ignored God’s guidance and chose self- rule, their perceptions of life distorted. Their newly acquired “I am as God” attitude clouded their ability to relate to God as their loving heavenly Father. Separation from God’s insightful counsel became their captivity and it complicated their relationship with each other as well.
The man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me,
she gave me from the tree, and I ate.” (Genesis 3:10).
And the blame game begins!
Everyone else is at fault here. Like Adam, we make excuses rather than repent. In God’s presence, the “God complex” does not seem to work very well as an excuse for our own ill behavior.
Since Adam and Eve were unrepentant, God removed them from the Garden. He did not want them to eat of the Tree of Life and continue to live with the separating attitude.
Removal from the Garden’s Tree of Life was really an extension of God’s grace and mercy.
Have you thought of it that way? God gave them time and space to begin to desire His guidance and become repentant. Their so-called punishment was to live in the separating death they chose.
In death’s separation, we also hide and cover-up. We follow Adam’s lead and make excuses: “It’s not my fault; the devil made me do it.” Anyone else or anything else is to blame— I’m not really at fault. I’m the victim here. The victim mentality shifts blame to excuse our dysfunction. We maintain our separatist position and refuse to repent.
Thus, our lack of repentance keeps us captive to destructive thoughts, attitudes, and actions. Our unrepentant separation is the real problem. It even keeps us fearing that God will punish us because we’re bad. We bring many ills upon ourselves by continuing to dig afresh our pits of destruction.
However, scripture clearly tells us the judgments of God are corrective, not punitive.
God is looking for good results.
It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons;
for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? (Hebrews 12:7)
This is great truth! Let’s never forget that God is our loving heavenly Father. His heart is so full of forgiving mercy that He constantly pursues us to repent and receive His guidance. Having no desire to leave us in our error, God wants us to grow and learn to reflect and resemble His heart character, attitude, and personality.
Over the many years of my life-changing journey, I’ve compiled countless insights about walking in the Ways of God. With the help of many others, especially the Relational Gospel Team, I’ve created resources that are shared on this website. You can view and also purchase my first book, The Christ Culture, available in print and eBook versions. We hear from many people that our resources are life-enhancing and our Leaders Guide is ideal for group studies. We hope you find yourself agreeing that growing in the Ways of God is indeed “A Way of Life Like No Other.“