Blessed By Repentance

I do not know if anyone likes to be wrong. Now some are better at it than others but for many of us admitting we are wrong is like swallowing a handful of gravel. It going to take some time and effort and we probably won’t get it all. We might have to do it but we don’t have to like it.

But maybe we should.

In Acts 3, Peter is preaching yet another gospel sermon. After a miracle of healing, he is telling the crowd about the plan of God fulfilled in Jesus and the evil that had been done to him. Peter tells them that even though they “had acted in ignorance” (17), they still needed to “repent and turn to God” (19). He warned them failure to heed the message would end in destruction (23). Yet consider what he proclaims in the last verse of the chapter:

"For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways."

How were they blessed here? By God sending Jesus. How had that blessed them? By turning them from their wicked ways. Without Jesus, they would still be stuck in their evil ways. By letting them know their error, they now could change for the better. And that is a good thing.

And it still is.

Don’t make the mistake of seeing being helped to overcome wrong as a bad thing. Ignorance of evil doesn’t make it right it just makes you in the wrong. Failure to see and change leaves you there. It is a blessing to be rerouted from error. Don’t let your pride keep you from seeing that truth.

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Ecclesiastes 12:10

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