The good news that Jesus told His disciples to share was, "Repent!" You've seen a photo of someone wearing a placard telling us to repent...or maybe you've seen a real person doing this. It sounds judgemental and a little crazy.
But "repent" is a clear and simple message that applies to all of us: "You are not on a good road. Turn around." Repentance is for people who are sinning, those things that we know by gut-instinct are bad. And repentance is for people who are living their own life, without heeding instructions or their Creator. If you have your own ideas about what you should be doing, and you are faithfully chasing after your dreams, then repent.
You were never created to live out your own ideas. Someone much bigger and wiser than you has invested a lot in who you are, and you should pay attention. Scripture says, "We all like sheep have gone astray" (Isaiah 53:6). That's not an uplifting image. We are sheep, one of the dumbest animals in the world. And we need to be cared for.
I know some of you don't like thinking that you're dumb, but there is real release in being reconciled to the One who created you. When you're working to "get it right," inevitably you fail. This is not a surprise to God, who is able to take your failures and still find purpose and meaning in your life. He has made provision for everything you could mess up. You might have denied that you're even messing up, but I find it very refreshing to admit that I do. I have. I will again. probably today.
It is easy for me to divide the world into two groups: those who have surrendered to God and those who haven't. I don't care what your reason for not. I do not look at most of those I know who choose not to follow Jesus and see terrible sinners or wicked people. But I have lately come face to face with a third category of people: those in the church who are not following Jesus. They're still pursuing their own ideas about things, but they speak all Christian-y and love-y and preachy. In this person, there is toxic confusion about what it means to be a Christian.
If you are outside the church and find yourself drawn to Jesus but repulsed by Christians, I'm sorry. Those of us within the church struggle with what our group does in the name of Jesus. The church is the bride of Christ, and with all her flaws, I do love her. She will someday be cleaned up and amazingly beautiful, and until then, some of the worst sinners in the world are predicted to come from her midst. For me, Jesus was so appealing, I couldn't help but step into the church. And I have found some genuinely wonderful people there, who reflect who He is, Jesus with skin on. I pray that I am part of the solution, not part of the problem, but on my bad days, who knows if I haven't soured someone's image of God?
Without apology, I ask you to repent. Come to Jesus with all of your questions and disbelief. He is worth knowing, and once you know Him, your desire for His ways becomes insatiable. You will never get anywhere good without Him.
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