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Everything needs to be boiled down so that our repentance can get to the heart of the problem and be as specific as possible. Otherwise, the whole process of turning to God will take longer and be more difficult than necessary. 

We need to turn our heart from faith in our "works" to faith in God and His grace. 

It all boils down to how we quench our thirsty desire for God—we need to change from "drinking" by what we achieve  to drinking by what we receive.

From Receiving Because of What We Achieve to Receiving Because of God's Grace

The essence of the problem is that we "work" to achieve a sense of having glory that is equal to God’s. The glory we think we achieve fills us with a kind of pride that eases our sense of lack. The practical problem here is that pride dulls our awareness of our need for God and keeps us pursuing ways to achieve greater glory—humanly speaking.

The ground was cursed when Adam sinned (Genesis 3:17). We have had to work to make a living and provide for our families, ever since. But, this kind of thinking has permeated our spiritual life too.

Deep inside we ‘know’ about the awesome glory of God. We also know that the glory of our humanity doesn’t measure up to His glory. So what do we do? We work hard to earn a sense of having glory humanly speaking and we work hard to avoid any sense of falling short. We try to find a sense of having glory ourselves apart from God. Corresponding to what we "know" inside about God, we try to achieve a sense of having glory in every aspect of what He is like. We try to find a sense of having power, knowledge, love, influence that eases the sense we have of our lack.

Though we don’t think about it this way, we try to achieve something we believe has glory in it; a better paying job, more friends, a new hi-tech toy. Then, in order to ease our insecurities about "falling short," we pride ourselves with what we think we have achieved. Rather than trust the grace of God, everything about how we quench our thirst humanly speaking is based on our work, our self-effort to achieve. The result is that we make impossible demands of ourselves, our surroundings, and of those around us. We demand that everything and everybody cooperate with our efforts to believe that we measure up.

But, don’t misunderstand me here. I am not talking about something that is on the surface. Beliefs that we are responsible to achieve glory, apart from God, run very deep. Seldom if ever do we think about these things with words in our minds, only feelings. Everyone is thirsty. Though it is sometimes well hidden, achieving glory has become a way of life for us. No one is exempt. We all need freedom.

We are living by our own "works" to achieve glory, if we are quenching our thirsty desires by any earthly means. The glory of our athletic abilities. Our competence. Having right doctrine. Our appearance. Attending the right church. The glory of how well we avoid risk. The goals we accomplish. Sometimes we even twist it around and pride ourselves with the power and glory we feel in self-directed anger and condemnation. If left alone and not dealt with, these problems will continue to keep us from pursuing God.

The glory of our humanness does not measure up to the glory of God! But, we can’t keep working to numb ourselves with pride until we believe we measure up. Apart from God, we don’t. We never will have glory equal to God’s. Even so, some of us may need to take that by faith.

In a practical sense achieving is important. We have jobs where we have to achieve. I am only saying we can’t keep trying to quench our thirst this way! Drinking from the glory of earthly sources keeps us from believing the glory of God and experiencing His presence as a result.

The essence of the problem is that we work to achieve glory rather than draw near to God and simply receiving God as our glory. On a practical level, the essence of what needs to change about us is the way we quench our thirst. We have to direct our heart from trying to "drink" by finding evidence we achieving glory is some way that compares to God. Then, we have to draw near to God and fill our desires by what He offers freely. We have to rest from our "work" and we have to rest into trusting God to give us what we need.

Note: When you are directing your heart toward God, be sure to remember that repentance is a process of changing how you are quenching your thirst for God. You have to change from faith in what you achieve to faith in what you receive. Doing so, will greatly simplify the process of directing your heart toward God.

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I am praying for the Lord's abundant blessing on your efforts to direct your heart toward Him.

Barry.

     What to Repent From — Continued...

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(C) Barry Hall 1999

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