Reluctance to Repent

[stephen]

"I feel when I have sinned an immediate reluctance to go to Christ. I am ashamed to go. I feel as if it would not do to go, as if it were making Christ the minister of sin, to go straight from the swine-trough to the best robe, and a thousand other excuses.

But I am persuaded they are all lies direct from hell. John argues the opposite way-'If any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father;' ... The holy sensitiveness of the soul that shrinks from the touch of sin, the acute susceptibility of the conscience at the slightest shade of guilt, will of necessity draw the spiritual mind frequently to the blood of Jesus.

And herein lies the secret of a heavenly walk. Acquaint yourself with it, my reader, as the most precious secret of your life. He who lives in the habit of a prompt and minute acknowledgement of sin, with his eye reposing calmly, believingly, upon the crucified Redeemer, soars in spirit where the eagle's pinion [wings] range not."

--Octavius Winslow, 1808-1878, considered by some to be one of the foremost Baptist preachers of the nineteenth century.

He was a direct descendant of Edward Winslow, a pilgrim leader who came to the New World on the Mayflower.

 

[Mark of Faith]

Thank you Stephen for that! It is an amazing blessing for me to read that. I have oftentimes sinned, then lain down on my bed thinking "how, how can I be so callous as to have just done that, and now I'm thinking of praying! The cheek!"

Yet, then, I realise that I just cannot do anything else unless I do first approach the Throne of Grace. I receive forgiveness. I may still feel some shame and guilt, but the knowledge is there that Christ paid the price for my sin. I am forgiven.

"Not of works, lest anyone should boast, but by faith you have been saved, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God."

God bless,
Mark.

 

[stephen]

Thank you Stephen for that! It is an amazing blessing for me to read that. I have oftentimes sinned, then lain down on my bed thinking "how, how can I be so callous as to have just done that, and now I'm thinking of praying! The cheek!"

Yet, then, I realise that I just cannot do anything else unless I do first approach the Throne of Grace. I receive forgiveness. I may still feel some shame and guilt, but the knowledge is there that Christ paid the price for my sin. I am forgiven.

"Not of works, lest anyone should boast, but by faith you have been saved, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God."

God bless,
Mark.

You hear what I say dear friend in Jesus.

It really has been something to me to hear how many folks shy away from the O.P. Not understanding......not knowing that repentance is a almost a daily matter.

Some take offence.....believing that to be 'in Jesus' such comments are out of place...