A Life Without Repentance

Repentance is a theme which has been running through my mind for the last month or so.  This morning in prayer the LORD showed me PVC fittings and pipes for irrigation in my mind.  I found this most bizarre.  Why would I suddenly be thinking of irrigation?  As I prayed for wisdom and understanding I thought back to when I laid the pipes to irrigate my front yard.  After I dug trenches according to my set of drawings to the prescribed depth, I began to fit the pipes together without glue.  When every length of pipe had been cut, after every coupling, elbow, riser, and sprinkler head was in place, I began to glue the pieces together.

The glue was a dark blue colour, suitable for wet or dry applications.  In a very short time the glue set strong enough to handle the water pressure.  But the way the glue is applied is key.  Glue must be liberally applied to the inside of the coupling as well to the clean-cut end of the pipe.  Quickly the pieces must be pressed fully into each other and turned a quarter turn.  The glue will ooze from the new joint, fusing the plastic pieces together as one.  If glue is applied incorrectly, or if the water is turned on before the connection is set, the pipe will leak.  The leaking connection must be cut out and then the whole process starts over.

God showed me that a lack of repentance in a believer's life is similar to the pipes being laid without the glue.  The job may look complete when no water is pressurising the system, but as soon as the water is turned on the system will be revealed as full of leaks and rendered useless.  What is Christianity without complete, continual repentance?  Since Christ is our strength, what strength could we possible have if we willfully pursue the desires of our flesh without repentance?  Another way to cut corners is to dry-fit the pipes and glue the point of connection from the outside.  This gives the appearance of being properly glued, but any amount of pressure and the connection will fail.  We can appear repentant from the outside, but God knows the heart.  Only a little bit of pressure from the world or the flesh will reveal to us how weak and sinful we really are.  The only way for the system to work is to completely and properly glue every single joint.

Repentance is a funny thing.  We can be fooled into thinking that once we have repented, we need not repent any more.  But how many times did I have to repair leaks in sprinkler heads, valves, and unions!  How many times did areas need to be dug up and re-addressed because the turf had built up around the heads or the pressure reducer shut off entirely!  Just because the pipes were covered with dirt didn't mean that the system did not need to be carefully maintained.  Our lives, in the same way, need to be maintained daily with repentance for our sins.  Galatians 5:19-21 reads, "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, ²⁰ idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, ²¹ envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God."  Is there anything on this list that is a current issue for you?  If we practice such things without repentance - a change of mind, a change of heart, and a change of direction/lifestyle - we will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So what is to be done?  Only God by His grace can enable a man to repent in truth (Acts 11:18).  Jesus says in Revelation 3:19, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent."  We must be born again through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.  Then we must choose to put off the deeds of our old flesh nature, be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and put on the new man according to God's Word.  I close with Paul's exhortation in Ephesians 4:20-32:  "But you have not so learned Christ, ²¹ if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: ²² that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, ²³ and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, ²⁴ and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness. ²⁵ Therefore, putting away lying, "Let each one of you speak truth with his neighbor," for we are members of one another. ²⁶ "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, ²⁷ nor give place to the devil. ²⁸ Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. ²⁹ Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. ³⁰ And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. ³¹ Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. ³² And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you."