In James 2: 14-26 there is the famous saying that “faith without works is dead”. I say also that “repentance without works is dead”. As I was reading this morning I came across a section in Judges 10 where the people had given themselves over to the worship of false god’s. Because of this, as is the case in the book of Judges, God allows the people to be overtaken and oppressed by enemies. After a time of persecution, the people finally cry out to the one true God to save them. This time God’s response to the people is interesting. He tells them that they can go cry out to the god’s they have been worshiping because they have chosen them over Him.
When the people cry out to God for help, you can imagine it went something like; “Oh Lord please forgive us for we have sinned, we have worshiped other Gods before you, and are now in a world of trouble and we need your help. Please save us from our enemies, amen!” This pray however doesn’t seem to impress God because he responds to their cries for help by telling them to get help from the other false god’s they have chosen. This prayer even reminds me of prayers I have prayed asking for forgiveness, yet not really seeking to change. It is here that the people of Israel finally do what they should have been doing all along. This is when the people put feet to their prayers, by riding themselves of the idols they had been serving, and they began to serve God instead. When the people of Israel truly repented, we see that action followed. They got rid of the sin that had been entangling them and they served God.
I think that just as faith without works is dead, so is repentance without works. If we seek forgiveness yet do nothing to ensure that we are correcting the sin, are we really asking for forgiveness, or are we simply trying to clear our conscience. It has been said that to ask forgiveness means that you are turning from the direction you were heading in, and begin going the opposite way. This is a good picture of what it means to seek cleansing, and then work to ensure that you stay clean. I pray that we will no longer simply ask forgiveness and then continue living in the same manner, expecting that God is some how forced to put up with us. God loves us and desires us to love Him, not just when we are in trouble. True repentance is always accompanied by action, action on the part of God in forgiving us, and on our part of changing the behaviors that got us into trouble in the first place.
