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Dan Kimball on Repentance
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A soldier asked Abba Mius if God accepted repentance. After the old man had taught him many things he said, “Tell me, my dear, if your cloak is torn, do you throw it away?” He replied, “No, I mend it and use it again.” The old man said to him, “If you are so careful about your cloak, will not God be equally careful about his creature? ”
–The Desert Fathers
Dan Kimball over at Vintage Faith wrote a beautiful essay on the Joy of Repentance. Repentance is a means of our salvation and helps us in our growth towards Christ. Repentance is the key that helps us to die and be resurrected. or take the old to be tranfigured into the new. Therefore, though it’s hard to do sometimes, joy always accompanies it, especially when done with Confession.
In speaking of repentance that night – I used the illustration from the scene in Shawshank Redemption where Andy Dufresne, the lead character, escapes from prison. He was in prison for a crime he claimed innocence to. But his escape consisted of him crawling through a sewage pipe for 500 yards filled with the excrement of all the prisoners. When he gets out of the pipe, he rips off his shirt, gasps for air, dives into the river and as it is raining – he throws his arms wide back allowing the rain to wash all the horrible stuff that he picked up from that sewage pipe.
I explained how repentance is like that – and as Jesus cleanses us from sin – it is like this. Unbelievably refreshing as crud is washed off as we repent. Like it was explained in the book of Acts where it was said to “Repent…so that times of refreshing may come from the Lord”. Perhaps if some of those “repent” signs would focus on water and cleansing – rather than fire and listing sins, more people would be attracted to want to “repent” when they understand it better.
The icon of my saint, Forefather Seth, has an inscription on the scroll he carries. It basically sums up my life’s main need.
“Should i desire repentance, but do not have the tears, help me in my laziness to repent.”
Where’s Our Treasure?
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Josh has been writing about the community he’s hopeful for. what i like about josh is that he dreams big. and many times he gets me to re-evaluate my own apathy and stiltedness. his last post has been my personal favorite because it’s something i’m always thinking about and having to repent from, spending money on things i really don’t need as opposed to spending on helping others. Randy Alcorn writes from his book “The Treasure Principle”:
Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). That’s the second key to the Treasure Principle.
By telling us that our hearts follow our treasure, Jesus is saying, “Show me your checkbook, your VISA statement, and your receipts, and I’ll show you where your heart is.”
Suppose you buy shares of General Motors. What happens? You suddenly develop interest in GM. You check the financial pages. You see a magazine article about GM and read every word, even though a month ago you would have passed right over it.
Suppose you’re giving to help African children with AIDS. When you see an article on the subject, you’re hooked. If you’re sending money to plant churches in India and an earthquake hits India, you watch the news and fervently pray.
As surely as the compass needle follows north, your heart will follow your treasure. Money leads; hearts follow. [Pages 41-42]
In Orthodoxy we see our individual salvation intrensically linked to the other. So when we give to others, we’re not only helping them and loving them as we truly should, but we’re also helping ourselves. We’re dying to another aspect of our lives and being resurrected again in the image of Christ. The image of a love that goes beyond ourselves. Later Alcorn speaks about a scence from Schindler’s List:
At the end of the movie Schindler’s List, there’s a heart-wrenching scene in which Oskar Schindler–who bought from the Nazis the lives of many Jews–looks at his car and his gold pin and regrets that he didn’t give more of his money and possessions to save more lives. Schindler had used his opportunity far better than most. But in the end, he longed for a chance to go back and make better choices. [Page 78]
I know in my life i buy way to many things that i just don’t need. But hopefully i’ll come to the end of my life with much of that changed. Josh ends his post with an indictive statement of the modern church:
