![[GospelWeb.net Globe]](../graphics/GW90logo.gif)
Inspirational Article
From
Joanne Lowe
Index of Writings by Joanne Lowe on Gospel Web
![[GospelWeb.net Bible]](../graphics/bible005.gif)
|
|
Inspirational Article
From
|
|
I prayed last year and asked God what true repentance means to Him. He spoke to my heart and said “The repentance that pleases Me is when you hurt because the person who hurt you is hurting”. It wasn’t easy and it didn’t happen overnight, but I can honestly say that when someone hurts me now, it is a lot easier to forgive them. I am not perfect because the only perfect person that ever lived was Jesus. I still lose my temper at times as much as I don’t want to do it. Before God told me what true repentance means to Him, I was happy if someone who had hurt me had something bad happen to him or her.
Sometimes I get emails from people who tell me that they are going to follow me to which I immediately reply, “Don’t do it”! We are not to follow anybody or anything. We are to keep our eyes on Jesus. If we ever put our jobs, sports, television, our families, our homes, our cars and yachts, swimming pools or anything else ahead of Jesus, those things have become idols to us and we are breaking the heart of our precious Saviour.
One day we will stand before a Holy God and give an account if we have followed someone or some thing other than Jesus. Only Jesus is to be followed, worshipped and adored! He is the one who was beaten, cursed, tortured and abused for us. He is the one who walked a long lonely road to be crucified for something He hadn’t done. He gave His life for us. He and He alone deserves all the praise, glory, honor, adoration and obedience.
You will never walk in true repentance until your heart breaks because someone who hurt you is hurting. We need to stop pointing the finger at other people’s faults and point the finger at our own faults. We don’t know what is going on in the person’s life that caused them to lash out at us with anger and criticism. A lot of people take their anger out on someone when they are really angry with someone else. It shouldn’t be that way, but it is and we should try with the help of Jesus to look at the person’s heart instead of listening to the cruel words. It is impossible for us to do that by ourselves. It takes Jesus working in our hearts to make us the kind of people that He wants us to be.
Has your heart broken because you hurt someone, even if you didn’t do it on purpose? Have you allowed Jesus to give you a heart filled with compassion and unforgiveness? Do you have Jesus, the only one who can give you unconditional love and compassion, living in your heart? Have you said “yes” to Jesus and asked Him to forgive you and save you and come into your heart to be your personal Saviour? If not, I urge you, I plead with you to do it now before it is too late.