Warning: the following will mess you up. Allow Holy Spirit to lead and guide you into all the truth concerning ‘repentance’. This is a critical piece of The Message we believe-the Gospel of Grace!

"The guilt and shame that is always associated with repentance causes this great gift to be, almost universally, thought of in a negative light and resisted rather than embraced as it should be and will be when seen correctly. " (Clark Whitten) Pure Grace - page 98).

“Repentance is the most mis-translated word in the New Testament" (Broudus). It means to change one's mind in light of new truthful information. This is the process by which believers have our minds transformed. When the truth of the finished work of Christ challenges religious mindsets, repentance allows one to embrace the new and discard the old.

By this process we grow up into the fullness of Christ. The mixture gospel taught by the vast majority of evangelicals reduces the glorious gift of repentance to a tool of behavior modification. Truth embraced will always produce freedom and correct Jesus-like thinking!  The truth is--Believers are the righteousness of God (In Christ) or we are not righteous at all. Jesus' work was finished completely or not finished at all!” (Whitten)

This word has been translated regularly as “repentance,” which is an old English word borrowed from the Latin, which means penance. Then they added the “re” to get even more mileage out of sin consciousness. Re-penance. This gross deception led to the perverted doctrines of indulgences, where naïve people were led to believe that they needed to purchase favor from an angry god. Most cathedrals as well as many ministries were funded with this guilt money.

English translations do little to help us understand what ‘true’ repentance is. Until Jerome’s Latin Vulgate translation, the word metanoia was commonly used.  For instance, Tertullian wrote in 198 A.D., “In Greek, metanoia is not a confession of sins but a change of mind.” The word ‘metanoia’, consisting of two components, Meta, together with, and nous, mind, clearly suggests a radical mind shift, not confession.

But despite this the Latin fathers begin to translate the word as “do penance” following the Roman Catholic teaching on doing penance in order to win (or curry) God’s favor. In 1430, Lorenzo Valla, a Catholic theologian, began a critical study of Jerome’s Latin Vulgate and Valla pointed out many mistakes that Jerome had made.  

Sadly, the “Vulgate-Only” crowd of Valla’s day forced him to renounce many of the changes that he noted needed changing in the Vulgate including the poor translation of metanoia. The business of religion desperately needs paying and returning customers. Jesus was crucified for this reason; the entire system of keeping people dependent on their hierarchy was challenged and condemned by him.

Isaiah 55:8-11 sheds more light on metanoia: “your thoughts were distanced from God’s thoughts as the heavens are higher than the earth, but just like the rain and the snow would cancel that distance and saturate the soil to awaken its seed, so shall my word be that proceeds from my mouth.” In Christ the distance between us and His Father is erased and the soil of our heart is saturated with non-shaming forgiveness and un-conditional love.

The Greek preposition ‘Meta’, (meaning) ‘together with’, implies another influence. This is where the gospel becomes so powerful since it appeals to our conscience to reason together with our original design ... the authentic thought; the mind of God is realized again. The distance caused by Adam’s fall, compared to the distance between heaven and earth, is cancelled in the Incarnation of Jesus.”

Following is the bottom Line of what is so incredible about authentic and pure change of mind and life direction (What we have been duped by religion to mistakenly refer to as “repentance” or “do penance”). 

Metanoia suggests a co-knowing with God! It is an intertwining of thought; and it is to agree with God about me. Your belief in God does not define him; his faith in what he knows to be true about you defines you. In Mark 11:22, Jesus says, “Have the faith of God.” Unfortunately, most translations say, “Have faith in God.” That is a difference. God’s belief in you gives substance to your faith. Jesus is what God believes about you.

When we put our trust into and agree with what God believes about us, our hearts naturally, supernaturally give us impetus to turn from sin. “I write this, dear children, to guide you out of sin. But if anyone does sin, we have a Priest-Friend in the presence of the Father: Jesus Christ, righteous Jesus. 2 When he served as a sacrifice for our sins, he solved the sin problem for good - not only ours, but the whole worlds.” (1 John 2:1-2, Msg) Do you see any shame here?

Toit, Francois Du (2012-07-02). Mirror Bible (Kindle Locations 362-368). Mirror Word Publishing, Kindle Edition.

Enjoy agreeing with what God thinks and declares about you! Ron Ross

Grace to Endure

Endurance: Staying the course when problems look or feel overwhelming or the journey seems too long…

Even though we have the power of the Resurrected Christ, His Holy Spirit within us, always available to us---What motivates us to keep going when we feel like Jesus is a million miles away? What puts energy into our spirits when we seem to run out of answers and resources?

Where does our power to live, serve and to keep giving come from in the dry times? All of us run out of motivation from time to time, no matter how much we may have previously experienced. What is it that fuels us into effortless service out of the quagmires of life?

It seems that every day we are learning  that what used to motivate us is no longer enough. We must go further and higher, pressing on to what lies ahead. We must step into the unfolding grace that is always available and abundant in the next moment. In that grace we keep learning what Jesus is interested in, so we can lose interest in what we are used to pursuing. And we learn that unless Jesus is interested in what we are pursuing, the going will get tougher than we can bear.

Let’s consider how Paul approached this very real issue of endurance!

7 … what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. 8 Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith;10 that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11 if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.12 Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Phi. 3: 10-14, NKJV)

We can’t think in terms of learning keys or secrets, but of continuing in the simplest truths of the gospel. We learn (sometimes daily) by experience that there is no way forward when pressed to our extremities but to sacrifice ourselves at every turn for His sake, knowing nothing but Jesus and Him crucified. We must die to live. It is better to give than to receive, and better to love than to be loved. We cannot lose, because we have a perfect Savior who is able to finish what He began in us, if we do not give up and throw away our faith.

8 I think you ought to know, dear brothers and sisters, about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. We were crushed and completely overwhelmed, and we thought we would never live through it. 9 In fact, we expected to die. But as a result, we learned not to rely on ourselves, but on God who can raise the dead. 10 And he did deliver us from mortal danger. And we are confident that he will continue to deliver us. (2 Cor. 1:8-10 Msg)

Why? Because we are only jars of clay, very fragile and finite, capable of only giving out so much, and with very limited understanding and strength. We find ourselves daily embracing the Gospel of Grace and then we come to be encouraged by our human limitations. How can we be encouraged-because God’s power and glory will become obvious in our weakness?

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves; we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body” (2 Cor. 4:7–10).

Enduring by Grace, Ron Ross

Loving Intentionally

Intentional Loving

An indecisive faith and a wavering hope immobilize us on our journey to fullness of life and our daily walk in the Spirit of Jesus. If we could only believe Jesus was telling the truth then this world in which we live would be an exciting place! It’s a place of romance and adventure, a place of promise and a place of possibilities, a place of confidence and joyous expectation! But more than that, our world is a place of love. A place where we can live and love intentionally!

The Gospel of Jesus opens up the endless possibilities of love. There must be love and we must run the risk of being loved. The life Jesus lived before us always brings us to the place of God’s unending love. Jesus didn’t say maybe God is love ----or that it would be nice if God were love. Jesus said: God is love---period. But there is more to the message of Jesus. He insisted that His Father is crazy with love, that God is a kooky God who can scarcely bear to be without us. He crowns us with kindness and compassion.”

Lord, I want to sing,

I want to dance, I want to celebrate!

I want to send up a sky full of red balloons,

Scatter the roads with smiling daisies:

Crash the cymbals,

 Beat the drums,

Jungle tambourines,

Clang the bells,

I want to shake the trees

And splash the fountains, kiss the roses,

Bug the world

Lord!

Your love is like new wine.

I feel drunk with it!

Psalm 103 is a wonderful prayer; leading us to a faith-filled experience of the Father’s loving-kindness.’ Gentle waves of peace wash over us. The words “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits; which come into focus here like no other place? He pardons all of our iniquities, He heals all our ills. He redeems our lives from destruction! He crowns all of us with kindness and compassion” causing a deep sense of gratitude for the many times He has rescued us. Later the words “Not according to our sins does He deal with us, nor does He requires of us according to our crimes.” He puts us in touch with His presence and we begin to Praise Him for His greatness and goodness, His unbearable forgiveness, His boundless patience, and His tender love, put us in touch with His presence.

“For as the heavens are high above the earth, so surpassing is His Kindness toward those who fear Him…As a Father has compassion on His children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear (respect) Him.”

Lord it’s almost too good to be true.

But you are the truth and you said it, so I know it is real.

Today I asked you to speak to my heart, a word I could hear and understand.

And you said, very clearly, “I want you to be with me where I am.”

Lord, even the people who love me most need a vacation from me now and then.

But you don’t want one! You want me with you where you are forever.

“Love without any agenda…take tender care of one another with fondness and affection; esteems one another’s unique value.” (Romans 12: 9 and 10) “We are the product of God’s love…wear love like a uniform; this is what completes the picture of our oneness.” (Colossians 3)

I think that the scriptures are explicit as to our mutual journey into the depths of Father’s love. And the Cross forever displays the enormity of God’s great love. “In Christ, God opened a new and exciting way for us to encounter him without hesitation or restrictor…Love kindles faith and faith opens the horizon to explore love’s mystery.” (Hebrews)

Not only is God’s love real, it is the crowning truth of our search for purpose! To be loved and to learn how to love back may be the biggest and best challenge of our union with Jesus!

Intentionally learning to love! Ron Ross