Repent
Repentance doesn't mean regretting or feeling bad about something. Metanoia, the Greek word for repentance, means turning 180 degrees. It means completely changing the way we feel, think, and act. It means turning away from greed, despair, sin, self-righteousness, and hate and turning toward compassion, hope, service, grace, and love.
Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth. “Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him. So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him. Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them. But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?”
Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.” –Luke 5:27-32
Repentance means moving from:
- Hate to love
- Selfishness to service
- Control to cooperation
- From sin to grace
Compassion
Compassion is not being content yourself until there is contentment for others.
As Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. Two blind men were sitting by the roadside, and when they heard that Jesus was going by, they shouted, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!"
The crowd rebuked them and told them to be quiet, but they shouted all the louder, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on us!"
Jesus stopped and called them. "What do you want me to do for you?" he asked.
"Lord," they answered, "we want our sight."
Jesus had compassion on them and touched their eyes. Immediately they received their sight and followed him. –Matthew 20:29-34
Be compassionate if you want contentment. If you want contentment for others, be compassion.Today
This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. -Psalm 188:24
In the entire history of the universe, let alone in your own history, there has never been another day just like today, and there will never be another just like it again. Today is the point to which all your yesterdays have been leading since the hour of your birth. It is the point from which all your tomorrows will proceed until the hour of your death. If you were aware of how precious today is, you could hardly live through it. Unless you are aware of how precious it is, you can hardly be said to be living at all. –Frederick Buechner
Unless we realize how precious and sacred today is, chances are that our lives will be full of regretting, busying, and dreaming – and not living.
We need reminders that today is holy, sacred, and precious. I pray this is your reminder.
Humility
Pride is seeing ourselves as better than others. True humility is simply seeing ourselves as God sees us.
Humility is seeing ourselves as God sees us
And all of you, serve each other in humility, for “God opposes the proud but favors the humble.” -1 Peter 5:5
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