Repentance for Heirs

For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears. (Hebrews 12:17)

As I explore the various aspects of this verse I see that repentance is an important element or attitude necessary in the heart of a legitimate child of God. As I saw yesterday, to be in line for an inheritance I need to be a real child, an heir. For in this verse it seems to be saying that the greatest disqualifier for Esau to be a legitimate heir and receive the blessing was his lack or inability to have repentance within him.

It would also follow to reason that the ability and presence of repentance in the mind and heart of a person may very well be one of the purposes of the discipline discussed at length earlier in this chapter. Again, the kind of discipline talked about here is not the perverted, selfish, punitive so-called discipline often practiced by earthly fathers but the pure, transformative discipline that induces and refines the likeness of God's loving, perfect character within us. It is the polishing of the mirror of our hearts so that as we gaze more intently and consistently on the life and character of God as displayed for us in the experience of Jesus, we will be transformed into thinking and acting more and more like He did.

I still want to have a much clearer understanding of the real meaning of repentance. It, along with so many other religious words, instantly evokes a great deal of suspicion in my mind whenever I hear religious people pushing their notions and demands for what they think is repentance. Most of those ideas are often distorted at best and many times are means by which those in position over others try to manipulate them and gain control over their lives. This abuse of authority darkens the true picture of God in the hearts of all affected and confuses the mind causing discouragement and bitterness. But there have been times also when I have heard some really good explanations of this word that have been very helpful and even refreshing.

As with all religious words and definitions, our tendency will be to gravitate toward a definition that favors and reinforces our current picture of God. That is why I have been finding myself in constant transition and continually challenging most of my definitions over the past few years, because my picture of God has been so radically shifting from the dark, fear-based views I grew up with to a completely opposite but unfamiliar realization that He is very different and far better than I ever dared to imagine before.

Now whenever I hear explanations about what a religious term means from others, or I check into the original language and consider all the possible definitions that could be applied to a word based on the context, I always keep in mind as paramount that the definition must complement the overriding truth about God's real character that He has been revealing to me. If it enhances and increases my respect and love for Him then very likely it is the correct definition to apply to the text. If it tends to increase my fear and apprehension or lessen the light of His glory that has been refreshing my soul, then very likely it reflects the darker, somewhat distorted views of God held by the translators who did not accept or believe more advanced views of God's goodness and truth when they worked on the passage.

I tend to keep my mind open to ever-increasing enhancements of the definitions that I adopt so that as my perceptions of God improve so too can my definitions and understanding of religious words. I also give great priority to looking within the context to find clues as to what a word potentially may mean as I believe that the Word of God is its own greatest authority as to how to define what it means in the words that it employs. Hence if I want to learn what repentance really means I not only need to look at what the original Greek (and Hebrew) terms meant but how they are used in the passage.

Another problem that I have noticed is that since I have only limited knowledge of original languages due to my lack of training, I am sometimes even suspicious of the definitions offered for those words. For the definition given by Strong's concordance is also limited to the picture of God that he had when he wrote those definitions. Some words have far broader possibilities for their potential meanings that I have learned when listening to other scholars who have done more careful research into the use of words in the context of the society of the times when the Bible was written. This may begin to sound like it could be impossible to ever figure out the real meaning of the Bible and could lead to great discouragement in some. But I am confident that God will utilize the Holy Spirit to guide me, and anyone who is willing to listen, not only to the best meaning of the words that are important for me to know Him better, but will also interpret the concepts that God is trying to convey through the very limiting restriction of using human language. When necessary the Holy Spirit will bypass words and convey the concept directly to my heart so that I can be more effectively transformed into His image.

I believe that the whole process of sanctification is leading everyone willing to be transformed toward the greater use of direct heart-to-heart communion that often will bypass words altogether. We may even be surprised to find that heaven uses far less language as we know it and far more spirit to spirit communication that has far greater capacity than language ever can convey. And for those who are willing to synchronize and do not resist God's work in their lives, they will begin to experience that kind of open, expanded capacity communion to some extent even now.

This leads me right back to where this text is leading throughout the rest of this chapter. It is trying to get me to realize the immense importance of paying more attention to the unseen – but more real things – and less attention to the externals of religion that have consumed so much of my attention all of my life. I can see the effects already in my life of the movement from one paradigm to the other. I am becoming disenchanted with the obsession with external emphasis by those who are trying to be religious and my desire is intensifying to connect with God much more with my heart and spirit. But I also need to be careful to not be impatient with those who do not share my level of desire or see the importance of the spirit over the material. If I do allow impatience to poison my spirit I immediately find myself thrown back into the performance world of religious routines again and find that yet another root of bitterness is trying trying to trip me up. Then I have to return to the throne of grace to tank up again.

See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled. (Hebrews 12:15)

Father, fill me completely to my full capacity this morning with grace. I do not want to be short of any amount of grace today because I want to have plenty to share with others. Be a fountain of living water in my heart all throughout this day so that others will be attracted to Your loveliness and perfection. Fill me with Your humility, with true repentance (whatever that really means) and with selfless love. Cleanse me of pride and fear and selfishness. Speak through me today, glow through my face (that's a real challenge for You) and use me as a base from which You can launch more raids of rescue into enemy territory. Glorify Your name and reputation in my life today in anyway You choose.

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