Greg Laurie Harvest Daily Devotional

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Harvest Daily 10/06/04


Harvest Daily Devotional
by Pastor Greg Laurie



October 6
Repent and Be Saved

"Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord . . . " - Acts 3:19

A vast difference exists between the words remorse and repentance.  It is important that we understand this difference.  People are sorry when their sin catches up with them.  People feel remorse when they begin to reap what they sow.  But remorse doesn't necessarily mean that someone has repented.  The Bible says godly sorrow leads to repentance.  If you are truly sorry, you will not only have remorse for your sins, you will repent and change your behavior.

Too many people have a false assurance that they are Christians because they posses a sense of remorse for their sins, even though they never repent.  The Bible clearly says, "Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19).  The word repent means to change direction.  But we have people today who theoretically come to Christ without ever changing their lifestyle.  They have never repented.  They will say, "But I was sorry for what I did," and then they keep sinning like nothing ever happened.  What kind of sorrow is that?

C. S. Lewis wisely observed, "Repentance is no fun at all.  It's something harder than merely eating humble pie.  It means unlearning the self-conceit and self-will we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years."  This stark contrast between remorse and repentance should be a warning to us in the church.  Let us never passively soak in the truth without any real intent to apply it.  I plead with you today, if you are living in some form of habitual sin, for your own sake, repent and be converted. 

Copyright (c) 2004 by Harvest Ministries. All rights reserved.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright (c) 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Bible text from the New King James Version is not to be reproduced in copies or otherwise by any means except as permitted in writing by Thomas Nelson, Inc., Attn: Bible Rights and Permissions, P.O. Box 141000, Nashville, TN 37214-1000.



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