Instagram Jesus Week 5: Devotional Day 7
DAY 7 – Sunday
Daily devotional
Read
Mark 1:14-15
Ask
Where is God calling you to “repent and believe in the gospel”? Spend time reflecting about where you need to confess, change your behaviors and/or thought patterns and have faith in the good news of God’s saving power in Christ.
Reflect
Today’s Ask question brings us back to this week’s core text and invites us to do some self-reflection. It may be easy to rush past this question saying something like, “I’ve already done that!” But this is a question we need to keep coming back to. It’s part of the reason why Chapel Hill does a celebration of baptism on the first weekend of every year. The initial baptism is significant, but we need to continually hold that posture of repenting and believing.
What does it mean to repent and believe? Do you remember what action is used to define repentance? It is turning around. Repentance is acknowledging that we are heading in the wrong direction and turning around to head the other (the right) direction. In his commentary on what it means to repent and believe, James Edwards writes the following, “If repentance denotes that which one turns from, belief denotes that which one turns to — the gospel. Both verbs in Greek are present imperatives, that is, they enjoin living in a condition of repentance and belief as opposed to momentary acts.”[1]
Have you ever had the misfortune of grabbing one of those carts at the grocery store with a wheel that no longer functions properly? As a result, even if you gave the cart a push in one direction, when you let go it will drift towards the other direction. We are kind of like those carts. It is in our nature to drift away from God. We have to consciously work to keep our focus on God.
Where have you drifted away from God? This is a tough question and requires vulnerability. It is possible that not everyone in your LifeGroup is willing to share their response. That’s ok. I want to encourage you though that being vulnerable with someone or your small group can be tremendously beneficial. They can pray for you and help hold you accountable to moving in the right direction.
[1] James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark, Pillar New Testament Commentary. Accordance electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 47.