Beyond Repentance

It seems to me that old style Christianity has always embraced the concept of repentance, as if we were bad children promising to an angry parent that we would not be naughty anymore.  Usually, like a child without self discipline, we would soon repeat the "naughty" behavior and have to repent and repent and repent!


Yes, it is good to acknowledge where we have fallen short of our best selves and to change our behavior to ensure that we no longer make the same mistake, but in order for real change to take place, we must change more than words and temporary actions.  We must go beyond mere repentance and recognize that no "parent in the sky" needs our apology and promises, He knows who we are and who we are not;  we must change ourselves from the inside out.  We all understand that there is no real change in our lives until we change who we are; what we think, say and do.  It is so simple to understand but its tough to do; we have to do a "makeover" from the inside out!


Don't you see that there more at stake here than the threat of a non-existent place of punishment called hell? When we cheat, lie, steal, kill,  betray our honor and our word, we are blighting our precious lives and causing the death of all the dreams that we hold for ourselves and our families.  The damage done by being less than we know we should be and can be is done right here and right now - to ourselves and to those we love.  


In our hearts we all know that we are responsible for our own lives.  Only we have been present every second of our life and only we are the creative force that shapes our life experience through our thinking, believing and our acting on those beliefs.  We have been given the right and the gift of creating our own story on this planet, of writing our own life record.  Yes, God gives us the life and the power and gives us the Law to make it work, but we think the thoughts, speak the words and do the deeds that write the script of our lives  and we must live with the fruit of our creations.


For far too long humankind has taken the easy way out; blaming our failures or crimes on outside forces: luck, God, fate, random chance, accidents of birth; the list of excuses are endless.  We have been taught to believe that we are powerless creatures given to imperfection and bad acts. This belief absolves us from making any changes or taking control of our lives.  How could a perfect God create such junk?  He didn't, we did.  It is our belief in junk and imperfection that makes it so.  The error is ours, not the Creator's.  


Repentance will never set us free from error (sin) and a life of sorrow, pain, poverty, ill health and wasted potential.   Finally taking responsibility for our own lives, as we have been made by our Creator to do, will set us free.  The second that I can look in the mirror and say: "I created this mess and only I have the power to clean it up"; that is the day that I am free.  


I am no longer dependent on the behavior or patronage of others because I now realize that God and I are co-creators of this life.  I will never again be a victim for I know that I am always at choice; sometimes it's two pretty bad choices but I always have a choice!  I am now free from victimhood which is a state of being in total thrall to others.  Victims must depend on the good will and actions of others, which is a very slim reed to lean upon.  A victim never realizes where life's power really resides - in them.   Since none of us can really control the lives and actions of others, if we live in victimhood we are always begging an outside force to help us or save us and that is no way to live life. 


Let's remember that God creates the materials and the tools for the job at hand and we create the design and do the work.  It is God's will that we be free - free to live the abundant and happy life or free to make a massive mess of the whole thing.  The choice is 100% ours, God has no "will" for the details of our lives, only that we be free to live it according to our thoughts which create our reality and our words which empower our thoughts.  Upon these thoughts and words rest the reality of our lives.  That is it - the secret of life!


Take care, you now have the power but you also have the responsibility.  A wise person uses his power to create his life with care because he understands that what he is inside will be mirrored exactly in his outside reality and he will have to live with his creation.  Love and Light create joy, abundance, health, happiness. Anger, resentment, revenge, hatred, envy create sickness in body and spirit, poverty, ruin and despair.  


No one escapes the basic law of the Universe: the Law of Cause and Effect. As I write this, the world is witnessing the end result of the terrible actions of a lost soul, a man in Darkness, a lost brother who used Divine Law for murder and mayhem instead of love and Light and has paid the due bill on his choices. There are no exceptions to Divine Law.  It is not punishment, although many think in those terms.  He made the choice and he has reaped the whirwind as a result of his choices, words and actions.  It is a matter of Law, what you put into Cause you shall reap in effect.  And so it is!


You are what you think and speak and do which is the Cause of your life.  That cause will produce like effects which you will have to endure until you change what is inside of you.  No change, no reprieve.  Your character, your thoughts, your reactions, your words, your heart cannot be hidden from God or from Divine Law.  What you sow you shall surely reap, pressed down and overflowing.  


Is it easy to change who you are?  No, but anyone can do it with the desire, the will, the tenacity and the love of God supporting us.  Let's think a new higher thought, speak a new kinder, more loving word, choose more carefully and look down the path of our choices and imagine what each will bring.  Then make an intelligent and loving choice based on what we see.  


Let's stop living 21st Century lives by 3rd Century values and a 3rd Century idea of God and understand that God is the architect of the Universe, the Divine Mind that is all there is and give thanks for every blessing in our lives, morning and night for every day of our life here.  Let's really embody the concept that no matter how different someone may be or how we perceive their concept of God and the ritual they use to celebrate Him, that he or she is our brother or sister in the literal sense.  Let's finally understand that there are no strangers, only friends we have not yet met.  There are no foreigners, only neighbors we have not yet made friends.  We are all One in God.  The great truth is that there is no separation between the tribes and nations of mankind or between humanity and His God.   We all live and move and have our being in the great body of God. Let's move beyond repentance and accept Oneness as our Truth and glory in it. 


 May the Peace of the Indwelling God (Holy Spirit) be consciously with you each moment of your life.   And So It Is!


Rev. Dore' Jacques Patlian


Click the "comment" link to make a comment, to send this page to friends use the "envelope" icon.