Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Well Said!
What If I Stumble is an unusual blog. It is written by a Korean American and spends a lot of time dealing with the problems particular to Korean expression of Presbyterianism. But I thought this post, copied in total great:
And yet, time and again studies show that preaching in a effort to convict people does not lead to repentance - it leads to people leaving church. So how do we bring people to repentance?
We love them to it. People, confronted with the genuine love of Christ feel convicted in the face of that love. The love of Christ can only be borne of genuine goodness which can only come in us when WE are truly repentant and allow the Holy Spirit to go to work.
So maybe instead of trying to figure out how to bring repentance in other, we need to figure out how to do it ourselves, the others will follow.
How many "Christians are truly believers, disciples of Christ? There are many that have a false profession of faith and no true repentance. Unrepentant "Christians" have found a home in our churches. In the Bible, repentance always comes before true faith. Many "Christians" profess to have true faith but have never truly repented. Profession of faith without true repentance, however, is an embarrassment to the church and to all true Christians.I like that phrase "embarrassment to the church." And when you think about it virtually everything that has happened about which I feel embarrassed can be found in a lack of repentance. From pedophile priests to Jimmy Swaggart to this - all of can be explained by people who figure they are just a bit better than the rest of us and/or God.
And yet, time and again studies show that preaching in a effort to convict people does not lead to repentance - it leads to people leaving church. So how do we bring people to repentance?
We love them to it. People, confronted with the genuine love of Christ feel convicted in the face of that love. The love of Christ can only be borne of genuine goodness which can only come in us when WE are truly repentant and allow the Holy Spirit to go to work.
So maybe instead of trying to figure out how to bring repentance in other, we need to figure out how to do it ourselves, the others will follow.
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