Gaps between the Maps
Every time I sit down at our dining table, my eyes look up at three framed maps of the places we lived prior to moving to Indiana.
They hang on the wall, representing deep friendships and good times and also detours. Each city had its construction zone, where the way forward wasn’t so clear, and roadblocks took us the long way around.
Even more confusing, though, is the two-inch wall space between each picture frame, reminding me of the transition period that somehow bridged one location to the next. Transitions in life feel like they’re off the grid, too blurry to be captured in an actual piece of art. They don’t have names because they’re in between.
The Israelites’ connection between Egypt and the Promised Land was forty gap years in a desert. When they finally crossed that bridge, Moses gave them this reminder in Deuteronomy 8:2, “Remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years…”
Years that could be described as wandering in the wilderness were still a season under God’s leadership, and recalling how He led them could equip their faith for their next destination. The verse goes on, pointing out two specific aspects of God’s leadership during that season of transition:
Teaching them humility
Testing their obedience
Humility and obedience don’t initially seem like indicators of God’s leadership, but they highlight how He brings transitions across our path for the purpose of leading our hearts. For those times when our feet have entered uncharted territory, we can ask how has He led my heart into humility and obedience? Evidence of His leadership in these areas is meant to strengthen our faith.
Faith is strengthened, not by envisioning an imaginary future, but by looking back on the past, recognizing that we have a God who led us the whole way, even across the gaps between the maps.
Artwork for heart-work
From where I stand at my kitchen island, packing our boys’ lunches this morning, I look across the room at two pieces of botanical artwork, framed and hanging together on the wall. They’re just vintage reproductions, so they hold no monetary value, but they’re significant for other reasons. They symbolize reassurance, whether I’m doubting God’s plan, God’s timing, or His purpose for me.
The first image is an almond branch, and I love the story it stirs up in my heart. God chose Jeremiah to bring His message to Israel, but it was an intimidating calling for Jeremiah to consider. He looked inward and didn’t feel capable - an honest evaluation of himself! But God graciously reassures Jeremiah that it will be through God’s Word in his mouth and God’s presence with him that enable Jeremiah to do what God created him to do.
Then, Jeremiah has a vision of an almond branch, a play on words in Hebrew that sounds like the verb watching. God explains His illustration: “…for I am watching over my word to perform it.” Jeremiah 1:12
And every time Jeremiah passed an almond tree on his way to speak to the crowds, he could remember the One who was watching. God hadn’t forgotten what He’d said. No matter how long it took, or how it was received, His Word would be fulfilled. It wouldn’t come about because of Jeremiah’s vigilance or ability but because of God’s watchful gaze over His Word. His promises are sure because He’s never let them out of His sight.
The other frame displays a pear, the fruit I always pick out when it’s too hard; then I either wait too long or bite into it too early. Ugh! Such a waste! There’s nothing quite like perfectly ripened fruit that’s had the time it’s needed to develop behind the scenes, attached to the life-giving vine. This growth cycle isn’t familiar to most of us, living modern lifestyles disconnected from the rhythms of vineyards, orchards, and farmland, but we know fruit is best when it’s actually in season.
The psalmist describes what can happen when our lives are like fruit trees with roots buried deep in the soil of God’s Word: “The one whose delight is in the law of the Lord is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in season, and its leaf does not wither.” Psalm1:3
Life’s seasons can’t be fast-tracked. But there is a guarantee of fruit, a promise of harvest in the right season, if we soak in the source of life, God’s Word. When we do, our growth behind the scenes will yield fruit.
God is watching. No time with Him is wasted.
“I’m (truly) sorry”
Repentance in the early church
We look to the church, beginning in Acts 2, to see how early followers of Jesus understood repentance, and as we do, we can more clearly recognize it today.
Repentance Indicating Salvation
Acts 19:18-20: “Also many of those who were now believers came confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver. So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily.”
Repentance willingly admits and exposes sin, turning from what was once considered god, to God alone through Christ. Repentance causes an outward shift in what we prioritize, worship, serve, or arrange our lives around, even at great cost. Lives that are transformed like this have the power to amplify the Gospel’s message.
Acts 20:21: “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.”
Acts 26:20: “...I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.”
1 Thessalonians 1:9: “...you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.”
Repentance results in Jesus taking center stage in faith and life, rather than what had previously been central (self, finances, fame, religion, sex, comfort, etc). Outward behavior does not merit salvation, but genuine repentance will be noticeable in outward actions.
Lack of Repentance
Hebrews 12:16-17: “...see that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.”
Emotions and tears do not always indicate a change of heart; sometimes grief results from being caught in sin or facing consequences for sin instead of from sorrow over the sin itself.
Revelation 9:20,21: “The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.”
Revelation 16:9,11: “...and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him…and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done.”
Blaming God for sin’s painful consequences, yet continuing to live in sin, indicates an unrepentant heart.
Praying for Repentance
How do we even find the words to pray for an unrepentant heart? Paul, Peter, and John wrote to the early church, describing various pathways that lead to repentance, and the Spirit’s words through these authors offer us a roadmap for our prayers:
Romans 2:4: “Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”
*Pray that God’s kindness will lead to repentance.
2 Corinthians 7:9: “...yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance.”
*Pray that sorrow over sin will lead to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
*Pray that God’s delayed judgment will lead to repentance.
Revelation 2:5a: “Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.”
*Pray that remembering past history with the Lord will lead to repentance.
Revelation 3:19: “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest and repent.”
*Pray that God’s loving discipline will lead to repentance.
It’s likely that God led you down one of these pathways toward your own repentance, and maybe that’s the very one He’ll use in someone else’s life as you pray for it.
“I’m (truly) sorry”
Repentance in the Gospels
Preparing for Jesus’ arrival, John the Baptist preached to the crowds, “Produce fruit that shows repentance”. After his sermon, various individuals asked him, “What does repentance look like for me?”
For some, who had disregarded the needs of others and held onto possessions as their security, a repentant heart would result in giving away excess.
For tax collectors, who demanded more payment than what was allotted to them, a repentant heart would mean turning from that dishonest behavior.
For soldiers, who could use their power against people and who complained about their salaries, a repentant heart would no longer put itself first. (Luke 3:7-14)
Repentance would be evident in their individual actions, specific to their own sin struggle. “After Repentance” would look like an opposite lifestyle of “Before Repentance”.
Zacchaeus clearly models what John preached:
“But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” (Luke 19:8)
Zacchaeus confessed. He didn’t deny or justify his sin when he could have claimed that it was just the cultural norm for tax collectors to cheat. He didn’t place demands on his victims or paint himself as the victim of his surroundings. Money and possessions had been the center of his life, but with a repentant heart, he would go above and beyond to remove from his life what he had idolized and restore to people what they had lost because of him.
There would be loss of intangibles that he would be unable to repay, but he would do whatever was in his power in order to make amends through his material goods. In repentance, his effort toward compensation would be generous.
Zacchaeus gives us a very specific example of broader principles taught by Jesus:
1.“You will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:20) Jesus began this chapter warning His people not to judge others’ hearts and to examine themselves before pointing a finger at others. Then, He illustrated that the condition of a heart can be evaluated by the lifestyle it produces and the effect that a person has on their environment and relationships as time passes.
2.“The mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” (Luke 6:45) In a parallel passage to Matthew’s, Jesus revealed the source of conversations and word choice. Whether harmful or holy, they come from what’s on the inside.
3.Jesus came to call sinners to repentance and declared that heaven rejoices when one person repents (Luke 5:32; Luke 15:7). Jesus and all of heaven expect and celebrate genuine repentance with joy, showing us what our own posture ought to be toward it.
4.“Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in a day, and turns to you seven times in a day, saying, ‘I repent’, you must forgive him.” (Luke 17:3,4) These are the steps outlined here by Jesus:
Watch for sin
Rebuke for sin
Repent of sin
Forgive for sin
We keep our eyes open to sin, and when we see it, we confront it. No one is above this process or excluded from it. Forgiveness is necessary as a follow-up to repentance, but this is where we often confuse forgiveness with restoration, relationship, trust, vulnerability, etc.
Aphiemi is the Greek word meaning “forgive, release, set free”, according to Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words. When we forgive, we release or set free from the punishment we’d like to inflict on an offender. Instead of taking vengeance ourselves, forgiveness turns the offender over to judgment by the law, and, ultimately, to God’s justice.
But only time, observing whether repentance is lived out in a lifestyle change like Zacchaeus’, will prove whether restoration, relationship, trust, or vulnerability can be possible between two humans. God knows the heart, but we can only see its fruit, revealed by the passing of time. This is a much bigger subject than a blog post or email can encompass, but I hope it’s the beginning of clarity that provokes deeper study on the subject.
Next week we’ll look at repentance as it was demonstrated in the early church.
“I’m (truly) sorry”
But how can you know for sure? Is it a genuine apology? This is a heavy topic, and my heart aches for the relational brokenness you may be walking in today.
For the next few weeks, this mini-series will address the following questions:
Does something as deeply internal as repentance have noticeable external characteristics?
If so, what demonstrates true repentance in my own life and in others’ lives?
First, it’s necessary to lay a foundation by defining two Greek terms that go together like fraternal twins; they’re not identical, but they are meant to arrive one after the next as a package deal:
*Confession: (Homologeo) “to say the same thing; to agree with; not to deny, not to refuse”
When we confess sin, we uncover it. We align ourselves with God’s definition of the sin, as understood from His Word, and we agree with His viewpoint on it.
*Repentance: (Metanoeo) “to change one’s mind; to think differently afterwards; heartily to amend with abhorrence for one’s past sins”
When we repent of sin, we do a 180 degree pivot, no longer justifying the sin as we once did, or shifting the blame like we had before. We abhor the sin to the point of making amends to the offended party, changing our actions as a result of a changed mind.
Confession and repentance in the New Testament build on Old Testament concepts. For example:
“People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy.” Proverbs 28:13
“[They] must confess the sin they have committed. They must make full restitution for the wrong they have done, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the person they have wronged.” Numbers 5:7
The dual response of confession and repentance become visible in a life, and next week we’ll see what genuine repentance looks like in the Gospels.
*from Thayer’s Greek Lexicon