Repentance - March 21st, 2014

Wow...I started to post a journal entry and hit the fast forward button to the present.  I hope this speaks to some of you.

Shane and Julie Good

I have been happily married now for 12 years and currently have 6 children with one more on the way.  I have learned some very important lessons about marriage.  Simply talking with each another is probably one of the most important things a married couple can do.  If your spouse has offended you or visa versa it is important to talk about it.  It is also important to be willing to be wrong and ask for forgiveness.  If this one important thing is missing from a relationship it can lead to divorce.  If you are not willing, husbands to be wrong and reconcile to your wives and wives to your husbands you are walking down a dangerous, destructive path.

Me and Arwen

One day my 9 year old daughter Arwen was standing by my wife Julie and I while we were discussing something.  Julie had said something opposite from what I had said and
Arwen chimed in with; "Mommy, that's kind of like divorcing yourself from daddy."  Julie and I both looked at each other and laughed.  We will never forget that moment.  In a way Arwen was right.  People get divorced long before the papers are signed.  It starts with the simple, little things that build and build because there is no reconciliation, no "repentance".

Since being married I see so many similarities between our relationship with God and our relationship with our spouse.

If a man gets married and turns around and is continually unfaithful to his wife, he is divorcing himself from that pure union.

In the same way, we can divorce ourselves from the Lord.  If we continue down a path that is destructive and non repentant towards the Lord we are saying by our actions that we don't love Him anymore.  If we are not willing, as part of the bride of Christ to be wrong and reconcile to the Lord we are walking down a dangerous, destructive path.  God is a person.  God turns His back on habitual sin.

Today, I am hearing more and more about how loving Jesus is.  It is true, the Lord has boundless love, but lets not forget that it was Jesus that said; "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.  If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned." - John 15:5-6  Who wants a marriage that is just subpar?  Not me.  I love that I am still in love with my wife.  Who wants a relationship with the Lord that is just subpar?  Not me.  I love that I am in love with the Lord.

Let's make sure we treat God like a person and not like the easter bunny or Santa Clause.  Let's make sure we live a life of repentance.  Surround yourself with good Christian friends that are willing to speak the truth in love.  Believers that have the guts to keep you accountable.  Don't surround yourself with people that will just say what you want to hear and make you feel all fuzzy in side.  That fuzz might be mold.  Many times it takes others speaking into our lives for us to see it.  The 1st century church was built on real relationships and mutual edification.  We need more of that today.


God bless,

Shane