Guitar Jim

The religious leaders who trusted in their meticulous obedience to the Law of Moses would have been offended by the very notion that they needed to repent. They considered themselves above the common herd. We need no further proof of that than the story of the Pharisee who prayed in the temple and thanked God that he, the pharisee was such a good person. "I thank you God that I'm not like that tax collector over there." The "sinners" like tax collectors and other people who were considered second class by the pious religious leaders were the ones who wholeheartedly accepted John's baptism. The only reason the Pharisees and teachers of the Law even came to John was so that they wouldn't be left out just in case John WAS a prophet. John saw right through that though. As far as the question of offending national pride goes, John answered that in the verse about the religious leaders' pride in their being descended from Abraham. They seemed to have overlooked the part of God's promise that the Gentiles would also be blessed through God's covenant with Abraham. Even today there are Christian denominations that place great emphasis on their man made rites. They place faith in God as almost secondary to the observance of man made rules and regulations. I attended the funeral last year of my mother's next door neighbor. He'd been a devout member of his denomination for many years. The priest told us all that Leo had accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior and that really encouraged me to hear that a personal relationship with Jesus was being preached and practiced there.

When we accept the Christian message without repentance we simply join the larger Christian community. I'm sure we all take our time in repenting fully. Why? Because we can only proceed as the Holy Spirit directs and enables. In many cases we aren't ready to repent until we're fully convinced and convicted of our need to do so. Things happen on God's schedule, not ours. Sanctification in most of us is a gradual process. In some cases God will bring about an instant change of heart, usually because He has an urgent purpose for us, as in Paul's circumstances. For most of us, though, we come under conviction via hearing sermons, reading devotionals like this one, and by reading Christian books and such. Once we're convicted by the Holy Spirit in our hearts, repentance usually follows. Everything happens in its appointed time. You can SAY the words: I repent. But unless you mean them with all your heart you're just going through the motions. We should pray to God to ask Him to reveal areas in our lives where we're going the wrong way or have the wrong ideas and repent of those wrong directions as the Spirit gives us understanding. This is an ongoing thing. Every day we form thoughts and ideas contrary to God's will. We can rely to an extent on our conscience, since we have the Spirit dwelling in us, but we still need to periodically ask God to show us where we're going wrong.