Life Without Mother

Dear Friend,

This Thanksgiving, I give thanks for the gift of repentance. Have you considered how wonderful it is to have the grace of repentance? Our God – our great Heavenly Father, the Almighty God and Creator – has not only given us the truth of our condition (the Law), the means in Whom we are saved (Jesus), and a new spirit of love, power, and self-discipline in which we can be holy as our Father is holy (the Holy Spirit), but has provided the relational capacity by which we may participate in His work of holiness. That is, repentance!

We do not come to repentance willingly, but through the conviction of His Holy Spirit. He reveals His holy nature – perfection and purity, all goodness and grace, righteousness, justice – and my sinful nature – the continuous willful failing to be His image, reflecting His nature. For every time I fall short in action, words, attitude, thoughts, emotions, He graciously convicts my heart, mind, and soul.¹

I told a friend recently, that with each passing month this year, my hunger and thirst for His word has grown and grown – something that makes me exceedingly joyful. For so long, that desire for His word was hindered by my pride: I knew that reading His truth would convict me of my sin – even as I knew that very conviction is what brings me life! 

And now I celebrate, I thank the LORD, not that I have to repent, but that I get to! No, as Paul says, we are not to use His grace as a license to sin – thus, I do not celebrate my sin creating an opportunity to repent.² Rather, how wonderful the grace of our God that He has given us the hope of reconciliation when we do sin!³ Because, He, in His holy majesty, was not required to do so. He owed us nothing. We are His creations and we failed His purpose for which He created us: to bring Him all glory by our complete trust in, obedience of, and love for Him. 

And yet! – oh, friend, don’t miss the wonder of this! – while we were still sinners, He demonstrated His love for us in that Christ died for us!³

What amazing grace! And it continues as He completes His good work in us.⁴ Part of that completion this side of Heaven is our repentance of sin. It’s easy to see the need (and joy) for repentance in our initial salvation – but, I would dare to say that a key evidence of the true believer is our eagerness to repent of sin in our sanctification. That we seek His face and in our zeal to do so we readily and even eagerly repent for our sin according to His conviction of our hearts.

I believe having this attitude regarding repentance leads us to the freedom of truly being unashamed and confident in our faith. How so? By the humility of recognizing our utter need for: our union with Christ as our justification and intercessor and our deposit of His Spirit as our guide and comforter.⁵

I trust that God will reveal where I’m failing. And I trust that His conviction is out of His love for me. And I trust that when I repent, He readily forgives and restores my heart to His. Therefore, I do not have to live in constant shame or fear of failing. Rather, keeping my eyes on Him, He will reprove and renew me day by day to His will for His glory. And for that, I rejoice in His sovereign grace of repentance and reconciliation!

In Christ alone,
Hannah

1. Proverbs 1:23; 2 Timothy 3:14-17; Hebrews 4:12-5:10; Revelation 3:14-22; Hebrews 12:4-13 ↩︎
2. Romans 6-7; Hebrews 10:19-39 ↩︎
3. 2 Corinthians 5:11-21 ↩︎
4. Romans 5:8 ↩︎
5. Philippians 1:6 ↩︎
6. Hebrews 4:12-5:5:10; John 14-17 ↩︎