In Days To Come: A Return to the Desert / Advent Recap Wk2

Something sacred transpires in us when we remove ourselves from all that life constantly begs of us and place ourselves into the secret place of silence.

In Matthew 3, John the Baptist makes his home in the wilderness and shows us that the way to commune with our King is to remove ourselves from all of life's comforts, treasures, and normalities. He also declares that access and inheritance to the Kingdom at hand comes by way of repentance.

Repentance is not behavior modification. Repentance is not an apology for an action. It is not a punishment for the mistakes we make. And it is not how we earn favor with the Lord - Jesus already did that on our behalf. It is to return. To come home to who you truly are in Christ (think Prodigal Son).

The Greek word for repentance is metánoia. This means to renew your mind and to live your life from the freedom that your heart has already been exchanged with His. Repentance doesn’t condemn us or shame us. In fact, it helps us walk in agreement with God that our true identity is not dictated by our actions. Repentance is way less of a habitual practice than it is a posture that your heart never ceases.

During the season of Advent we are reminded of the daily opportunity to return to the desert where silence is okay and welcomed. In this posture, we hear from God in ways we never will amidst the hustle and bustle of our lives.

 

“Repentance is a perpetual state of readiness to challenge our commonplaces, the myths we live by, which produce not the fruit of repentance, but the practices of alienation and violence we too easily take for granted.”
— Stanley Saunders

 

Using the above recap or the content below, gather a few friends in your Advent Huddles to talk about what repentance has looked like in your own life and how it has impacted your communion with the Father.

Brandon ColeC3 Fort Worthadvent, community