Devotional Guide
For the week of August 21, 2005
JESUS MAKES US NEW
Remorse vs. repentance
To Read: 2 Kings 1-3
To Know:
³For see what earnestness this godly grief has produced in you, what
eagerness to clear yourselves, what indignation, what alarm, what longing,
what zeal, what punishment! At every point you have proved yourselves
guiltless in the matter.² (2Cor.7: 11)
The young woman sitting before me was filled with remorse. Life had hurt
her. After her fiancée killed himself, she broke down physically and
psychologically. Now nearing thirty she began remembering abuse in her
childhood. She came to tell me that she was contemplating suicide. Self-pity
overwhelmed her. My warning to her was that suicide would only add to her
agony. Why did she think that suffering gave her the right to end a life
that God himself had begun?
Remorse is a parody of repentance. Remorse is an expression of hopelessness.
Repentance relies on the grace of God. Remorse is a manifestation of
hopelessness. Repentance is an expression of hope. Why do we think that
sinners continue to exist? The Bible answers, by grace. My question to the
despairing young woman was simply this, ³Do you imagine that taking your own
life would be an expression of appreciation for the grace of God?²
To Do:
Sin and self-pity blind our minds. Repentance is a turning around in the
mind in order that we might think the thoughts of God after him.
To Read:
Saturday: 2 Kings 4-6
Sunday: 2 Kings 7-9
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