“Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it …” (Psalm 127:1)
Life without Jesus eventually comes to ruin. As we stand, looking at the rubble of our own attempts to build a good life, it can become too much for us. Our hearts can fill with despair, regret, and weariness. Why even bother to go on? Why not call it a day? But such a time is the perfect opportunity to rebuild if we are willing to address the crux of the problem.
What is our problem? In a nutshell: our independence. We are too self-sufficient. We assure ourselves that we have our act together until our act falls apart. The seemingly little wrong choices we make have disastrous consequences. Where did it all go wrong? It went wrong when you thought you could do this thing called life without the One who gave you life.
Building, or rebuilding our life will be in vain until we actively seek the Lord’s close involvement in the project. Repentance is simply acknowledging our sinful “freedom” from God. It is a turn away from independence and a turn toward dependence.
Jesus said that except we become like a little child we cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. God forgives us through the cross of Christ for our proud self-sufficiency, and He sends into our hearts the Spirit of His Son, who did nothing without the Father. We learn to walk even as the beloved Son walked – carefully, humbly before His Father. We let His Spirit tend to our heart at all times. He helps us avoid problems before they even begin. He keeps our way because we let Him keep our heart.
There is hope for any future that has Christ in it. But we cannot return to God without a major change in the way we do life. We cannot go back to “business as usual.” A good brokenness lets Jesus rebuild the shattered pieces of one’s life. It is forever humbled before God. It refuses to go back to the false freedom of the past. Each and every day becomes an opportunity to depend on the one who changes all things, starting from within and moving without. Pray, “Lord, only one thing needs to change right now and that is me. Change my heart, O God. Make it like the heart of your own Son. Rebuild my life, by restoring my relationship with You.”
True repentance does not live in regret for a past that cannot be undone. It instills hope for a future that only God can bring about. It begins with a heart revolution.