Be Repentant

‘Then You shall be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness,
With burnt offering and whole burnt offering;
Then they shall offer bulls on Your altar” Ps.51:19 [NIV].

God has already made provision for salvation for all mankind but repentance [action, faith] is man’s own end of things. Repentance is so crucial every Christian must understand it and operate it. And there’s no one that is best suited to teach us about repentance than David. David existed in the Old Testament but because of his relationship with God, he operated as a New Testament believer. He knew that God did not ‘delight in the blood of bulls and goats and burnt offerings and sacrifices. There was no one in the Old Testament that understood this apart from David. If we are to learn how to pray, we learn from some one who prayers, then I think it follows to learn true repentance from someone who was truly repentant. ‘The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit,
A broken and a contrite heart—
These, O God, You will not despise’ Ps.51:17 [NIV]. What David was saying in essence was that when a broken spirit and contrite heart are in place and you bring your bulls and goats then they would make sense. Let me explain this, some people believe that if they pay their tithe, go to church, and if they are good, then they will have access to the grace of God. No! That’s not what gives us access. What gives us access is repentance and then salvation through the Blood of the Lamb. Do you understand? Then after that, our going to church, tithing, and sacrifices now makes sense.

To understand true repentance, we need to understand a few things about sin because without sin there would be no need for repentance. I mean, if Adam and Eve had not sinned we wouldn’t be talking about repentance today. The first thing we need to understand about sin is that sin is rebellion against God. Sin is disobedience, disobedience against God. Sin is simply, “I am in control of my life”. God says, “This is how you should go”. Rebellion is, “No, this is how I want to go” and that’s sin. It’s as simple as that. In the Dart game, if your dart hits any part but the bull’s eye, the red dot in the middle, then it is said that you have sinned. In other words, you have missed the bull’s eye. So that’s why the Bible says all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. Sin is falling short of God’s standard. ‘For I recognize my rebellion; it haunts me day and night’ Ps.51:3. Sin is rebellion and you and I have to recognize that.

Prayer: Father, in the Name of Jesus, help my heart to remain broken and repentant before You always, so that the sacrifices of my hands will be acceptable.