Fresh Perspective on God’s Kindness and Our Repentance

For my quiet time today, I read Luke 13:1-17, but I wanted to know more about verses 1 through 5, for some reason.  So I looked up some words that I thought were important in that passage and I also read some sermons about that certain passage.  And I was simply amazed at the truth that God revealed to me when I did those things.  But just to make it easier, I’ll have verses 1 through 5 here:

¹There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. ²And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? ³No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. ⁴Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? ⁵No, I tell you; but unless yourepent, you will all likewise perish.”

Now this passage has a very clear message but also another amazing implication that I would not have thought of.  The very clear message is the message of Romans 3:23 and 6:23 that we are all sinners and have fallen short of God’s glory; therefore, we all deserve death and eternal punishment in hell.  Jesus made clear to his audience that just because certain calamities or accidents happen to certain people does not mean that they are worse than the people who still live.

It is interesting though that the first group of people that Jesus mentioned were people who were in the temple giving sacrifices who ended up being killed there also, which as MacArthur pointed out in his sermon about this passage, could be classified by most people as “good people,” who did what can be considered right in the eyes of men.  So people might ask, “What kind of God kills ‘good’ people?  What kind of God kills innocent people in a catastrophe?”

Both of which sound valid to me, especially when a calamity just happened and everyone is very emotional and empathic.  But MacArthur pointed out that we are asking the wrong question.  Our question should be, “What kind of God lets anyone live?”  Especially if we have the background knowledge that He is a holy and righteous God and we are filthy sinners deserving of death and punishment.  The real question is, “Why are we still here, despite that truth?”  The answer is in the passage: REPENT.  God is giving people time to repent from their sins and turn to Him.  How amazing is that?

Now, just to clarify what repentance means – according to the Greek Lexicon, it means

“to change one’s mind for better, heartily to amend with ABHORRENCE of one’s past sins.”

And as John Piper (and other pastors) said in his sermon, repentance is a 180 degree turn AWAY from sin towards Christ.

Two things I truly got out of my quiet time today: God’s kindness and repentance – God’s kindness truly leads us to repentance as Paul said in Romans.  And even as I conclude my blog post, I am still in amazement of God’s mercy and grace in my life, I hope that you are in amazement too.

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