A couple of months ago I was officiating a wedding at a (somewhat) familiar venue. I was heading to the rehearsal, and input the address of the chapel in my phone and began driving to my destination.
A funny thing happened though … since I had been to this place before, I thought I knew where I was going, so I was not paying much attention to the directions being spoken to me via my GPS. Siri told me to take the exit … but I blew right past it. Then the notifications started coming fast and furious. At every break in the highway, my phone was yelling at me to “turn around”! Eventually the reality began to sink in. Though I thought I was headed in the right direction, I had actually veered off course. Apparently I did not know where I was going as much as I thought!
At that point, I had a decision to make. Would I stop heading in the wrong direction, heed the voice of the eye in the sky, and do a 180 to get back on course … or would I keep driving and end up in Chickasha!!!! Since I was committed to getting to the wedding, I turned around and got back on course.
Has this ever happened to you? Just me? Oh well …
But this dynamic happens in more places that just our cars. It happens in our spiritual lives as well. Sometimes we THINK we know best. We think we know where we are going, and we allow our instincts to drive us into a set of decisions. We do what feels right to us in the moment, and that can drive us off course into sin.
If we are a follower of Jesus, though, something happens when we morally venture off course. We begin “hearing” a voice that tells us to “STOP,” “TURN AROUND,” and “HEAD THE OTHER DIRECTION.” This voice is the convicting work of the Holy Spirit speaking through the Scripture, other Christians we are in community with, or our conscience telling us that we are headed to the wrong destination. If we are believers in Jesus Christ, we say that we desire to follow Him … when we don’t God graciously prompts us to turn and get back on plan. When we listen to that voice and turn around to begin following Christ again, we do what the Bible calls “REPENTING.”
In 2 Corinthians 13:1-10, the Apostle Paul writes to a congregation of people he loves in Corinth. As he writes, the Holy Spirit is speaking through the Apostle to the Corinthians and asking them to repent. On Sunday at Wildwood Community Church in our 8:30, 9:45, and 11:00 worship services, we will be in part 5 of our “Mission:Own” sermon series as we see what this call to repentance is all about and what the current significance is for you and I. Hope to see you Sunday … and bring friends!