U-Turns in Ezekiel

Repentance. A change of mind and a change of attitude that results in a change of behavior. A 180-degree turn around. Going one direction and then turning around and then going the other direction.

Wayne Grudem in his work on Systematic Theology defines repentance as 'a heartfelt sorrow for sin, a renouncing of it, and a sincere commitment to forsake it and walk in obedience to Christ.

I've been plowing through Ezekiel in my morning readings. Not the easiest book of the Bible by any stretch. In my reading today, I came upon some repentance passages. They were addressed to the house of Israel, but the principle is applicable to us today: if we practice righteousness, then we live; If we practice wickedness, then we die. Practicing righteousness requires a change of our mind and attitude about our wickedness, agreeing with God about the heinousness of our sins, and turning around to do that which is righteous. Of course, we first rely on Christ and HIS righteousness, without which NO ONE can do one shred of a righteous act.

Hear (or read) the words of 'turning' or 'repentance' from Ezekiel 33: "Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are rotting away in them; how then can we survive? Say to them, ‘As I live!’ declares the Lord GOD, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?’ And you, son of man, say to your fellow citizens, ‘The righteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble because of it in the day when he turns from his wickedness; whereas a righteous man will not be able to live by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.’ When I say to the righteous he will surely live, and he so trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but in that same iniquity of his which he has committed he will die. But when I say to the wicked, ‘You will surely die,’ and he turns from his sin and practices justice and righteousness, if a wicked man restores a pledge, pays back what he has taken by robbery, walks by the statutes which ensure life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has practiced justice and righteousness; he shall surely live. Yet your fellow citizens say, ‘The way of the Lord is not right,’ when it is their own way that is not right. When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, then he shall die in it. But when the wicked turns from his wickedness and practices justice and righteousness, he will live by them."

Turn or burn.

Lovingly and truthfully,
Mark