14 Later on, after John was arrested, Jesus went into Galilee, where he preached God’s Good News. 15 “The time promised by God has come at last!” he announced. “The Kingdom of God is near! Repent of your sins and believe the Good News!” Mark 1:14-15 (NLT)
I am reading a book by Ann Voskamp called The Way of Abundance. In it she says “Repent. You are broken and you don’t have to pretend you are not. What a relief!”
Made me think…..
What if we all lived like we knew we were broken? What if we stopped pretending and putting on airs that we have it all together? What if we had the same attitude as Christ and humbled ourselves in every situation? How would it look if I didn’t have to hide my brokenness anymore? How freeing would it be to just be me, mess and all?
Would all of the walls we put up melt away? Would our words be less guarded and kinder? If we stopped trying to pretend we were something we were not, would we apologize more easily? Would our responses change on social media? Would we be less defensive in our reactions? How would it look if we knew, deep down in our core….heck if everyone agreed…..we are all broken? Nothing to hide here.
Repenting is when we stop doing whatever it is we are doing that keeps us from God. Usually, the root of that “whatever” is us. Maybe there is a reason that repent is one of the first instructions Jesus gave us. Repent. Turn to the Father. Take yourself off the throne and put him on it. He belongs there. You don’t.
So what if we stopped focusing on ourselves and rejected the common thought that we have to have it all together? What if we readily admit that we are broken and we stop pretending that we aren’t?
How would that change our lives, our families, our communities? How would it change our world?