Remember, Repent, Repeat

Last week my Pastor shared a message on Revelations 2:5. It says, “Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.” When I heard him read this, the first thing that went through my mind was how my passion for reading God’s word had changed. I still enjoy reading God’s word, but I can remember when I couldn’t get enough of it. I would fall asleep reading my Bible, and always high-lighting verses and making notes.
The second thing it says in this verse is to repent, this is a word that I believe gets a bad wrap. I know that I have to remind myself what this word means. When I heard it that morning, I felt guilt and shame. This word is usually tied to regret or sorrow for doing something that quickly turns to guilt and shame. But repent also means to change one’s mind, stop what you are doing or not doing, turn around and go the other way.
So what does this mean? We must remember what it was like to have a passion for spending time with our heavenly father, to pursue our wife before we were married, or how we played and spent time with our kids, and even better how we took care of ourselves and the feelings that came from working out. It is time to remember all of the great things that we have done and been a part of, time to turn around and start doing them again. Some days we may fall off the path, but that is why we must repeat them every day. Make them a habit. Practicing them every day is the secret. As Christian men, we get to live in freedom from falling off the path, and because we have the freedom, we must also have discipline. Discipline to get up every day and repeat.
When we live a life on the path, it is up to us to make a choice every day about how we want to live. Do you want to remember the good things that God has given us? A heavenly father that loves us, a wife that wants and needs us, living a life that we are proud of, a life that has a purpose and mission. This is our mission to remember, repent, and repeat.