Romans 2:4  Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and long- suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

 

“I can do it!” Any parent has heard that statement from a frustrated child who has gotten ‘stuck’ at something. You try to help them and they react. We are not always surprised to encounter that attitude in children. But adults? Recently, after a big snow, I saw a pickup trying to back up but just spinning its wheels. Another man was attempting to push but they needed more. So I hopped out to help. Soon the truck was moving again. How odd it would have been when we tried to push him out if he had protested, “I can do it!” We might leave there shaking our heads with an interesting story to tell.

Do we find ourselves doing this with God? God has resources. Not just a little, but riches of goodness, forbearance, and long-suffering, to name a few. He comes to us when we are ‘stuck’ desiring to help us. Do we accept His help? Or do we get frustrated and say, “I can do it!” Sadly, many do exactly that.

They reject God’s help because they don’t want Him telling them what to do. (Or what not to do.) They assume that He will just be a hindrance to their lifestyle. They don’t take into account His goodness. They don’t consider His love. And they forget that they are ‘stuck’, which is why they needed His help in the first place! We may grow suspicious of the word repentance. We might read that and react. We might see it as evidence that God really does just want to force us into some change of lifestyle. But we forget His goodness. We forget His love. And we forget that we are ‘stuck.’ To repent just means to go the other way.

That pickup truck was going nowhere on its own. He could have tried to keep going the same way but that was never going to happen. It had to go backwards. The only remedy for it was some outside help and a good dose of repentance!

Blessings,

Pastor Russ