from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church http://bit.ly/2KnvFKH
via IFTTT Repentance. True repentance. Turning away and going in a new direction. True repentance is beyond being sorry, beyond feelings, beyond regret. True repentance means doing whatever is necessary to take a new path. Literally turning you back on what you repent of. The people in this scripture did just this. They repented. In that repentance they brought all the tools and all that represented their previous life to be burned. They did this willingly because they realized how wrong it all was. Their hearts turned to Jesus and they desired to put aside all of their past. Today the message of repentance is often watered down, softened to make it easier to claim to repent and to make it easier to bring larger numbers into the church. But it is not real. True repentance means destroying the artifacts of our previous life. Think through the things of the world. Entertainment, wealth, pleasure, power, etc. Things of the world, not God. these things have no place in the life of the Christian. Repentance in a biblical sense means we bring all those things to the fire to be destroyed. Why? So we will not be tempted. Addicted to moves and entertainment? Destroy the TV. Addicted to substances, trash them. Addicted to self help books? Burn them. Whatever is necessary to rid ourselves of our old life Now, this does not mean that pleasure, entertainment, etc are inherently evil. Of course not. The evil is in living for them making these things the center of our life. God made things to he enjoyed, bit not focused on. Our life focuses on serving God, not pleasing self. America needs true repentance. Many feel sorry but do not repent. They do not walk away. They do not burn their past. They do not die to self on the cross and give their life to Jesus. They may be in church every Sunday, but have never repented. They keep both feet on both sides. Repent of anything that stands between you and God. Anything. Rid yourself and your life of all those artifacts, tools. Do everything possible to turn your back on the old you and rise up clean and purged, not dirty and blind. Repentance is the key
