This is the message we need to hold so dearly. Repentance is obedience and when we turn to God we surrender control and work on living for Christ. As we surrender and we trust in Jesus our heart opens and the Spirit fills us with understanding. The faith we have in Jesus grows as we accept and live out what we learn. Then we stop asking why and we allow the Spirit to lead.
Look what Paul says in verses 22-24, “And now I am bound by the Spirit to go to Jerusalem. I don’t know what awaits me, except that the Holy Spirit tells me in city after city that jail and suffering lie ahead. But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus – the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God.” Paul is talking to the elders of the church in Ephesus but we need to listen and understand that we should be living and teaching the same Good News of the grace of God. And that grace is seen by God sending His only Son to die on the cross to take our sins from us “while we were yet sinners.” His grace cannot change just like His love, so we need to repent of our sins and turn to God, showing our faith in Jesus Christ by living in obedience to what we have learned.
When we truly believe that we are new creations and our new lives are not our own we can be a light that moves people to seek Jesus in their lives. Our lives should be built on the cornerstone which is solid and firm and our lives should be ones that are immoveable because we believe we have eternal life in Christ. Paul shows this in Acts chapter 21 verse 13, “But he said, ‘Why all the weeping? You are breaking my heart! I am ready not only to be jailed at Jerusalem but even to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus.”
Are we ready to die for the sake of the Lord Jesus? If not, what is holding us back? We talked about the blazing furnace in Daniel and how nothing should take our eyes off the prize. Faith is shown by action and action is living by obedience to the Father by surrendering our will for His. We are told in Proverbs chapter 3 verses 5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do and He will show you which path to take.” Die to self and focus on showing other the faith you have by your life lived. Amen