Mistaken People

Last night after Impact at the BCM, the two Brads and I went out witnessing to folks on campus. It was so great to see the amazing work God is doing on our campus! In almost all the conversations I had will lost people, they agreed that they needed to turn from their sin to the Savior and that they would not inherit eternal life unless they took the gift of God, which was Jesus (Rom. 6:23). One thing that really interested me however was that every single person I talked to didn't know what the word repent meant! When I asked them what they thought it meant, they all said, "ask forgiveness" when the word actually means to turn from sin to the Savior. That means if we are dishonoring God with our words, actions, where we go, what we think, how we spend our time and are walking away from God, then to repent would mean to do a 180 degree turn and to start honoring God with our words, actions, where we go, what we think, and how we spend our time and to walk toward God....thus growing in holiness. Most people think that if we simply ask forgiveness and live our lives as if they were our lives, then they will be saved from God's wrath which has to be quenched somehow. When in all reality, God's wrath was upon Jesus for what we did wrong and the only way we can be saved from it is not to simply believe it with our thoughts, but to turn to it with our lives. Our sin should always point us to the Savior. Another thing people often take out of the Bible which was never there is the whole, "Ask Jesus into your heart" thing. I mean, if it was never there, then why make it up? How about we try and figure out what the Bible really is telling us to do in order to receive the free gift of eternal life through Jesus without making something up to make it easier to understand. Also, the Bible never says that we are supposed to accept Jesus, but receive Jesus. When I hear people say that they accepted Jesus, it almost sounds like they are making Him out to be the "loser" kid at school who nobody likes and finally having to accept Him into their personal lives. If anything, He should accept us. It is not that we are asking Him into our life, but it is that we are believing everything He says to be true and living as He said. Romans 13:14 says to put on Jesus. I think this is all we need to know. His Holy Spirit will enter us if we repent (turn from our sin by recognizing the seriousness of it) and believe in Him, not just believe Him. In Hebrews, the writer states several different people in the Bible who had faith and how it was accounted to them as righteousness. Then, with Jesus on the scene, He emphasizes repenting and believing in Him in order to be made righteous. As Ephesians 2:8 states, "It is by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, lest any man should boast." If to repent means to change your mind about the sin in your life, then that means we must see our sin like God sees it. Isaiah 64:6 says our rigteousness is like filthy rags to Him. Also, Jesus said that lust is adultery and hatred is murder. Thats how serious sin is to God. If when you sin (break God's law= 10 commandments) it doesn't make you sick, then you don't have the spirit of God in you and you aren't saved. If it makes you sick every time you turn your back on God and sin, then that comes from the Holy Spirit living within you.