Dave's Diary

Prayer

Before you read, I invite you to pray this prayer based on Psalm 119:1-3:

Lord, bless me, I pray. I am here to love You with my mind, as I search Your Word to know You more deeply. I long to understand Your instructions, so that I can love You with all my strength by walking in step with them daily, and so become blameless in all my ways.

Reading

Matthew 4:12-17

‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.’ (v.17)

At the very beginning of Jesus’ public ministry, He made it clear that repentance was the first step for anyone wanting to be His disciple and a citizen of His Kingdom.

At its most basic, to repent means to turn back. In its context here, it means to turn back to a right relationship with God through trusting in Christ. There can be no Christian discipleship without first turning away from everything else that we have centred our lives on, in order to place Jesus Christ at the centre of our lives and follow Him.

Disciples are called to repent in order to enthrone Jesus at the centre of our lives and follow Him.

Even after we have become His disciples, repentance remains a vital aspect of our discipleship. For disciples, repentance is a lifestyle of repeatedly choosing to love the Lord and orient our entire lives towards the central goal of pleasing Him! When we discern that our lives are centred elsewhere, the only appropriate response for a disciple of Jesus is to reorient, by “repenting”.

Disciples are called to repent in order to keep Jesus at the centre of our lives.

Now, when one’s life is completely focused on pleasing oneself and not on pleasing the Lord, repentance will mean making a 180-degree turn, away from sin and towards God. But when it comes to our everyday discipleship as believers, it’s different. Our lives are surely not purely focused on our selfish pursuits. We are genuinely striving to follow Jesus, but sometimes we fall short. We get distracted or waylaid, and before we know it, we’ve lost our way. For us, repentance isn’t a 180-degree turn. Instead, it’s actually a matter of making constant (and often quite minor) course corrections with the help of the Holy Spirit, to bring ourselves back to the place of having Jesus and His pleasure at the centre of our lives.

Following Jesus starts with the decision to turn towards Jesus, place Him at the centre of our lives, and live to please Him! And when we realise we are headed in the wrong direction (even slightly), disciples are called to repent by correcting course.

Contemplation

Please take time to ponder what Jesus has commanded us. Turn one or more of these declarations of commitment over and over in your mind. Keep them in mind throughout the day and live in step with Your King, Jesus.

As a disciple:

• I will aim to love the Lord and to please Him in every way.
• I will be sensitive to the Holy Spirit correcting the course of my life.
• I will repent by choosing to follow the Spirit’s course-corrections, so as to get Jesus back at the centre.

Perhaps a particular situation has come to mind in which your life is incorrectly orientated. Don’t get up from this time of devotion without asking the Holy Spirit to empower you to make the necessary course correction.