Previous Posts in this Series on Repentance
#2 Why Do I Do What I Don’t Want to Do?
#3 What Did You Think Would Happen?
#6 Addicted
In this series I am interacting with Dudley J. Delffs’ A Repentant Heart: The Joy of Restoring Intimacy With God. I am posting these on an “occasional” basis as I work through Delffs’ book a second time. I’m not in a hurry.
“All of us find ways to try to make our lives work without having to depend on God.” - Delffs
Yes, I put that in large font on purpose. There is something so true about that statement. It’s a gut-check. It gets our minds out of the clouds and the make believe world where we no longer have a sin struggle and puts it into reality. A lot of the things we call “repentance” are more like “penance” and that’s just a way to fix the problem ourselves.
“Since we are more concerned with removing the problem, often certain specific sins or addictions, than with knowing God, we can only view Him out of our anger and frustration at His seeming indifference, incapability, or unwillingness to aid us in our struggle. Thus we keep our eyes fixed on ourselves and our resources engaged in overcoming sin as we see fit.” - Delffs again. Painfully so.
DENIAL
One thing I like about Delffs’ work is that he doesn’t pull punches and this one lands. The first response to sin is often denial - a separation in our thinking from the reality of our failure. Being a human on this side of Paradise, we can easily fall into the trap of just pretending to have it all together when we really struggle and need God’s help. This has to do with repentance because it is a false repentance, and an ineffective one at that.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. —1 John 1:8
PENANCE
Penance is when we attempt to compensate for our sin and hope to fix it. It kind of looks like repentance because we hope to change behavior and prove ourselves people of faith.
“The notion of penance takes a foundational truth—that people should act differently if they have indeed experienced a heart-change by God’s grace and their acceptance of Him—and makes it a requirement that can be processed and managed.” - Delffs
Maybe it would be simpler for us to just do ten good works to overcome the five sins that we committed! God can tell us what the scale would look like and then we could start counting beans and outweighing our misdeeds. Friend, we need to thank God that this is not the way it is! There is no way we can “compensate for the damage of our sins” (Delffs). What would we need Jesus for? We need to face the reality that even if such a plan existed, we could never be able to overcome the list of our lifetime of rebellion and failure. Who is up for this?
“None is righteous, no, not one;
no one understands, no one seeks for God.
All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong;
no one does good, not even one.” —Romans 3:10-12
Penance is just trying to make everything right without God’s help. Count me out.
CONTRITION
Repentance begins with contrition - a staggering awareness of our sin and allowing that to humble us before God. Delffs writes, “As starving men and women, we appreciate the bounty of God’s glorious feast only as we feel the pangs of hunger rumble in our empty bellies and smell the tantalizing aroma of His love.” This isn’t about fixing anything. It is about letting God fix it.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.—1 John 1:9
Delffs spends some quality time with King David and his sin with Bathsheba, the call for repentance from Nathan, and Psalm 51. He then observes that David’s “attitude is one of humility and a desperate longing for restoration and cleansing. This approach neither minimizes his sin by seeking God’s forgiveness as a token, nor does it maximize the sin as unforgivable by making his standard greater than God’s. David feels both the weight of what he’s done and who he is before his righteous God, as well as the hope of mercy, restoration, and renewal before his loving Father.”
This is quite a contrast to the idea of penance, which is focused on self. Here we focus on God and act in faith to seek God’s presence, grace, and wisdom for living forward.
I think in recognizing and admitting our sin, we honor God as we seek His face in our great time of need. Ultimately, the confession of Psalm 51 is “The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:17). This is the approach God desires. Not just once, nor only when we perceive we have really committed a BIG SIN, but it is a defining mark of our relationship with him.
Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.—Hebrews 4:14-16
A contrite heart characterized by confession of sin to a God whose desire it is to offer mercy and grace when we need it most is the picture we should be getting. But it requires honesty. At the beginning of this chapter, Delffs wrote, “All of us find ways to try to make our lives work without having to depend on God.” Contrition and confession are the signs that we are getting off of that train and running to the Father who runs to meet us.
Toward the end of his chapter, in a reflection from his journal, Delffs shares this striking truth: “You’ll never change until you’re broken by the weight of your sin and crushed by the mercy of God’s grace.” Amen.
Next: Exercising a Repentant Heart
Thanks for reflecting on the book. Also, thanks for adding the link!