Unity and Repentance

Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. (Romans 15:5-7)

As I look at this again (I can't seem to pull away from these verses they are so compelling), I notice a sequential progression here. It starts out with each individual person becoming willing to cooperate with the instructions from the recent verses and chapters. That means laying aside our prejudices against those who are still caught in the bonds of fearfulness and spiritual timidity and accepting them as equal siblings in the family of God.

As this takes place the next step emerges. We collectively become more and more bonded with each other in love, joy and worship of our one Father and His Son Jesus our Christ. We find ourselves having the same way of thinking and feeling as others who are pursuing the heart of God – the same mind with them. This comes about by imitating the example of Jesus who showed us what it looks like to accept others and love them unconditionally with the spirit of selfless service.

According to these verses, the purpose and outcome of this growing unity of heart and mind is to glorify God, the Father of the one who gave us the example and empowers us to follow it. But what do we need to participate in this progression to glory? I see three things listed here: perseverance, encouragement and acceptance.

Another interesting link that I found comes from Revelation 16 that also talks about a reason for giving glory to God. Men were scorched with fierce heat; and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory. (Revelation 16:9)

I find this intriguing. This thing called repentance has very different implications than what I grew up assuming about it. My first radical shift in thinking about repentance came when I learned that it is the kindness of God that leads us to repentance. (Romans 2:4) I also learned that repentance comes as a gift which means that it is not something I can just work up myself whenever I feel like it. Yes, I have to exercise my choice to embrace repentance and then utilize it deliberately, but there are times when I may want to repent and not be able to do so because it is no longer an option for me. (see Hebrews 12:16,17)

So, does repentance have anything to do with what I am contemplating here in Romans? Although I don't notice the word show up prominently here, I believe that the spirit and process of repentance is described in these passages. Since the purpose of repentance according to Revelation is to get us to glorify God and verse 6 here says that the purpose of our unity is to also glorify God, I rather think that at least one of the ways we will arrive at the unity needed to glorify God is through a spirit of repentance, both toward God and toward each other.

Though it can be frightening, I think it sometimes can be helpful to take a glimpse at the alternative to obeying what I am reading here. If I choose to go on clinging to prejudice against others, if I refuse to accept them in brotherly love and resist having my heart knitted together with others so as to bring glory to God, then undoubtedly I will be found among those described in this verse in Revelation who end up blaming God for all the terrible suffering that will fall on those who have rejected His protection from the terrible plagues coming on the world very soon. At that point I will have so hardened my heart that I will be incapable of embracing a spirit of repentance and will find myself outside the bonds of unity that comes about through humility and love with other believers who imitate the example of Jesus.

I choose to embrace the offer of repentance and ask God to instill it permanently into my spirit. I choose to embrace the methods that Paul describes here that will bring unity between me and those who don't think exactly like I do. I choose to look to God to direct my ways and to connect me with other hearts who are seeking to know Him intimately as well. I choose to trust God's heart to guide me into that experience in a much deeper and fuller way.

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