I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. – Luke 15:18
“Make a U-turn in front” the melodic voice of the young woman chimed from the GPS. I had missed an exit again. I had to turn my vehicle around. I had to do so because I believed that continuing on the road would not have taken me to my destination. Yesterday’s devotional was a call to respond to God’s grace. But what is this response? Wesley looked at Ephesians 2:8-9 and pointed to faith as the human response to divine grace. Yet faith is not a nebulous sense of certainty in one’s heart. Faith was “characterized by two movements: repentance and belief.” 25 Focusing solely on repentance today, we see that Wesley defined it in absolute terms as “a change of heart from all sin to all holiness.”26 Repentance brings about three changes: (1) A change of heart about our spiritual condition; we realize we cannot live apart from God. 27 (2) A further change through the conviction of the Holy Spirit; that our guilt deserves eternal destructionc. 28 (3) A thorough change of minds exemplified in the prodigal son: “self-knowledge led to the conviction that he had sinned, and that he should return home. But the process of repentance was only complete when he said, ‘I will set out and go back to my father.’”29
我要起来, 到我父亲那里去，向他说：父亲，我得罪了天，又得罪了你。 《路加福音》15：18
“前面调头回转。”导航器报出年轻女士优美的声音，我又错过了一次出口，不得将车调头绕弯。我必须这样做，因为我相信继续前进不会把我带到我的目的地。
昨天的灵修呼吁我们回应上帝的恩典。但是，这种回应是什么？约翰.卫斯理根据《以弗所书》2：8-9，指出信心是人类对神圣恩典的回应。然而，信心并不是人心中模糊不清的感觉。信心具有两个动态特征：悔改和信念。24我们今天仅专注于悔改，约翰.卫斯理毫不含糊地将其定义为“人心从所有的罪到完全圣洁的改变”。25悔改带来三个变化：（1）从心发出的属灵状态的转变：我们意识到我们不能离开上帝。 （2）进一步因圣灵对罪的责备而产生的转变：我们的罪值得永远的毁灭。 （3）就如浪子一样心思彻底改变：自知之明让他承认自己犯了罪，他应该回家。但是只有当他说：'我要起来，到我父亲那里去。” 悔改的过程才算完成。
反思
圣灵第一次感动我们悔改是何时呢？圣灵如今是否催迫我们因任何罪而悔改呢？
Reflection
When was the first time the Holy Spirit moved you to repentance? Is the Holy Spirit prompting you to repent of any sin now?
Kommentare