Day 4 - Repentence
>>Daily Theme | Repentance
>>Memory Scripture | 2 Chronicles 7:14
>>Read | Luke 10:30-37
>>Devotional Reading |
As Jesus ministered to his disciples, he emphasized the importance of one’s heart condition as a follower of Christ. Jesus spoke harshly about the religious sects that created many rules and regulations but lacked a true heart for God. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus condemned those who loved “to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men.” Jesus noted that their religious practices were empty rituals and that those who engaged in such practices, “received their reward in full.”
Purity in heart is often the central issue in sins of omission. While sins on comission usually include an external action or attitude that people can observe, sins of omission are not easily detected by others. Sins of omission usually do not involve actions that are sins “per se,” but in God’s eyes they are sins because we are not doing what He wants us to do. That is what makes it easy to justify sins of omission. We reason that “I’m only doing what I need to do.”
A classic example of the sin of omision occurs in Luke 10, in which Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan. Both the priest and the Levite saw the man who was in need, yet they passed by him on the other side. While there was nothing intrinsically sinful about passing on the other side, in this context, it was a sin of omission – they failed to do what God had required them to do.
Neglecting the things of God, including his instructions, is a wrong attitude towards God. It is a failure to let God be God. Zondervan dictionary of bible themes defines sin as, “Primarily a wrong relationship with God, which may express itself in wrong attitudes or actions towards God himself, other human beings, possessions or the environment. Scripture stresses that this condition is deeply rooted in human nature, and that only God is able to break its penalty, power and presence.”
We have to let God break us from the pattern of sins of omission. This includes assessing and changing the heart. When we are primarily motivated by a desire to please others, it is easy to commit sins of omission because we are only doing things to please other people, but not to do what God wants us to do. It is only when we make God’s will our primary motivation that we take captive sins of omission. When our primary desire is to do the will of God, we will do the difficult things, the hard things, the things that no one on earth may see, but that our heavenly Father sees.
>>Respond |
As we continue today in repentance, our response to God today may be difficult because we often are not aware of many of our sins of omission. As we pray for God to make us aware of our sins of omission, we have to be willing to fully hear what God has to say.
Start off with praying according to Psalms 139:23-24, “ 23 Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24 See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
As you pray for God to examine your heart. Ask the Lord if there are any areas in which you have neglected God’s will and instructions. You can start with some of the areas listed below.
(1) Loving God with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength
(2) Loving your neighbor as yourself
(3) Seeking first the kingdom of God
(4) Engaging in spiritual disciplines: prayer, fasting, journaling, reading God’s Word, studying God’s Word
(5) Walking in integrity
(6) Fellowshipping with a local church and Christian believers
(7) Sharing the good news of the gospel
(8) Being a good steward of time, talents, finances and resources.
As you ask God for forgiveness in these areas of sins of omission, ask God for the strength and wisdom to reprioritize your heart to be able to do as God requires of you.
>>Reflect | Journal or pray through these questions
*Adapted from Experiencing God by Claude King.
- What has God revealed to you about Himself?
- What has God revealed to you about His purposes?
- What has God revealed to you about His ways?
- What has God revealed to you about yourself?
- What has God revealed to you about your priorities?
- What has God revealed to you about your relationship with Him?
- What guidance has God revealed to you about your circumstances?
- What adjustments is God asking you to make (start doing _______, stop doing ___________, continue doing ___________).
- What can you thank God for today?
- What further steps of obedience do you know God wants you to take?
>>Next Steps |
Pray
I will pray about __________________ consistently, asking for ability, guidance, and discipline to listen + obey by God’s strength
Ask
I will ask the Holy Spirit to help me to ____________________
thanksgiving
I will thank God for ____________________
obedience
I will start ______________________
