The Cost of Repentence

As believers we like to throw around bible speak, sometimes without really understanding the true meaning of what we’re talking about.

Take the word repent, as in, “Repent of your sins and they will be forgiven you.”

We often use the words ‘repent’ and ‘apologize’ synonomously, but they do not mean the same thing.

It is very easy to say, “I’m sorry,” and to feel really badly about something that you’ve done. It’s a lot harder to actually repent, and turn away from that thing which caused you to sin in the first place, never to do it again.

This is why as Christians we’re constantly apologizing to God for that habitual sin, or sins, (me too) and thanking God for the grace that says he will forgive seventy times seven and more.

It is easy to apologize, but there is always a cost to repentance.

Our most significant act of repentance, that of confessing our sinful nature and our separation from God, and asking for forgiveness, costs us our very ’selves.’

With that act of submission and repentance, we commit to turning away from a life that is guided by our desires to please our own will, and instead, commit to living a life that is pleasing to God’s will, (apologies along the way notwithstanding)

Repentance cost us our personal self centered idenity.

True repentance, on a smaller scale costs too.

You can repent or turn away from addictive behaviors, and you can repent or turn away from commitments or decisions that may not have been pleasing to God, pledging to do that thing no more.

This is what the social conservative political scion Paul Weyrich did, when he went beyond a simply verbal confession of his error in not supporting the candidate who most closely shared his values and socially conservative world views; fromer governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee.

Weyrich and nineteen other stalwart leaders of the social conservative movement, yesterday co-signed an open letter to John McCain, which will be published as a full page ad, pointing out to him that he needs to have someone with credible social conservative credentials on his ticket in November, and expressing concern that the GOP darling Mitt Romney could not be considered as meeting those requirements.

This becomes significant and newsworthy, only because Weyrich had strongly endorsed Mitt Romney before his withdrawal from the race.

Now he is paying the price, the cost for his repentance. All over the blogosphere he is being called a flip flopper, and people are even making mockery of his faith, and of God at his expense.

Over at No more Mr. Nice Blog, blogger steve M writes,

 

I’m sure God personally told Weyrich to endorse Romney for president. And I’m sure God told Weyrich to un-endorse Romney as VP. I’m confused, but, hey, the Lord works in mysterious ways. Maybe Satan was involved.

Maybe Satan was blinding Weyrich to the truth.  

 

In other places, bloggers say that, “the religious anti-mormon bigots” got to Weyrich.

He is paying the price for repenting, for acting on his confession of what he has determined to be his wrongdoing. For following through with an effort to make sure that someone, (even if its not Huckabee), that closely reflects our values, will be present on that ticket in November.

He will probably never get a chance to make public his reasons for his repentance. But God knows.

And we the faithful know.

And we salute you sir.

His Hadmaiden

Here’re some of the links where it’s been blogged about.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0408/And_the_next_GOP_primary_begins.html

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/04/04/romneys-ex-friends/

http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/04/04/romney-for-president-but-not-for-vp.aspx