Repentance: It’s not just a feeling of remorse or regret, but a reorienting of our entire life around the reality of who God is.
We see this principle unfold in the story of Jonah as he goes and preaches to Nineveh. Now, Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria and was known for its heartless brutality and callous wickedness. Jonah was a reluctant messenger delivering bad news of impending judgment, “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” Yet the people of Nineveh, from the greatest to the least, all believed God, humbled themselves, and repented of their sins.
In contrast, Jesus was the loving Son of God who eagerly preached the good news of the Father’s forgiveness, salvation and gift of eternal life to all who would believe. He healed the sick, cast out demons, and raised the dead as proof of God’s love and grace. Yet most of those who heard His message and saw His miracles rejected it and hardened their hearts against Him.
Jesus pointed out the contrast between Nineveh’s response to Jonah’s preaching and the response of His own generation to the good news of salvation. He said, “The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent” (Matthew 12:41).
I wonder, what will Nineveh have to say about our generation? We’ve been given the complete revelation of God’s plan of salvation through Jesus. We have the entire Bible to read and study. We’ve been given the Holy Spirit to convict, help and guide us. Yet, how often do we respond with apathy or complacency? How half-hearted is our repentance in comparison to that of the Ninevites? How many other things do we build our lives around other than Jesus?
May we be a generation who wholeheartedly reorient our lives completely around Jesus!
We see this principle unfold in the story of Jonah as he goes and preaches to Nineveh. Now, Nineveh was the capital city of Assyria and was known for its heartless brutality and callous wickedness. Jonah was a reluctant messenger delivering bad news of impending judgment, “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!” Yet the people of Nineveh, from the greatest to the least, all believed God, humbled themselves, and repented of their sins.
In contrast, Jesus was the loving Son of God who eagerly preached the good news of the Father’s forgiveness, salvation and gift of eternal life to all who would believe. He healed the sick, cast out demons, and raised the dead as proof of God’s love and grace. Yet most of those who heard His message and saw His miracles rejected it and hardened their hearts against Him.
Jesus pointed out the contrast between Nineveh’s response to Jonah’s preaching and the response of His own generation to the good news of salvation. He said, “The people of Nineveh will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent” (Matthew 12:41).
I wonder, what will Nineveh have to say about our generation? We’ve been given the complete revelation of God’s plan of salvation through Jesus. We have the entire Bible to read and study. We’ve been given the Holy Spirit to convict, help and guide us. Yet, how often do we respond with apathy or complacency? How half-hearted is our repentance in comparison to that of the Ninevites? How many other things do we build our lives around other than Jesus?
May we be a generation who wholeheartedly reorient our lives completely around Jesus!
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