The “R” word that no one wants to talk about

There has been a whole LOT of talk lately about the one popular “R” word that has been thrown around to anyone who has conservative values – RACIST. Especially with the Matt Walsh documentary coming out recently, many people are talking about racism in the United States, and how exactly bad is it?

But that’s not the “R” word I’m talking about. I’m talking about the other “R” word that seems to rarely, if ever, grace the mouths of our church elites – REPENTANCE.

Repentance

Now I don’t mean our churches ignore the general concept of repentance. Obviously, that is part of the gospel. Thankfully, most (unfortunately not all) talk about the gospel and our need to repent. But what I’m talking about is repentance in how the great majority of the church responded to the various insanities of the last 4 years.

I understand that with respect to c0v1d, we were thrown into a miasma of lies and propaganda (as Russel Brand would say). At first, no one knew what was going on. We were all scared – or at least I was. I remember not allowing our kids to touch the neighbor kids because, you know, they could get us all sick!

Wait a second…

But within a few weeks, I started to get other information from a few friends around the country. Something wasn’t adding up. At first, I thought to myself, “YAY! We can all breath a sigh of relief! This is going to be over! All of these doctors are saying we should be OK, no need to continue the lockdowns!” LORD, was I naive.

Fear

So many people were crippled with fear. I personally had no choice but to go grocery shopping throughout the pandemic, so I went out regardless of my fear. Since a few of my friends were too afraid to leave their homes, I ended up picking up groceries for them. I had to leave the groceries outside so they could first sanitize them and then bring them in their home. Looking back, it would be funny if it wasn’t so crazy.

But the most disappointing aspect of that time was the response of the church. There were rays of light here and there, but way too few. Pastors would go online for Sunday Service and tell us all that we’re still the church, guys! This is just our new normal! We’re going to get through this, no problem.

Then after a few months of online church, a few churches told families to stay home but singles could come to church. They just didn’t want a lot of people in the sanctuary at one time. We needed to be safe. So families had wait. Because, um yeah. No idea. But families, you guys wait.

Anyone? Anyone at all?

I wish I could say that I’ve heard of someone, anyone, repent of their submission to sitting in fear (not the initial knee jerk fear, but the wallowing and commiserating fear). Whether it was the authoritarian government or the virus itself, knees were bent to the orders from the State. Leaders in our church told their congregants, “Love thy neighbor!” I wonder if they were including their neighbors who were struggling with addiction, or loneliness, or anxiety? What about the neighbors who were in abusive homes, with no one to turn to?

I can’t stress enough, I understand. I understand the thinking behind many of the decisions that were made. There was so much confusion! However, even now, no one has had the humility to own their sin of fear and (this is going to sound harsh) cowardice. Wow have I been guilty of that before. But how are we to tell others to repent of their sin, when we refuse to do the same? We can’t sweep this under the rug. Even if we can, we shouldn’t.

God’s Word is clear. The first on the list of those thrown into the lake of fire are the cowards (Rev. 21:8). There’s a reason why we’re told hundreds of times (over 300) in the bible, “DO NOT FEAR.” We ALL have a tendency to fear. But when we do, we’re sinning. And when we sin, we need to repent (James 1:13-15).

One Repenter

Rosaria Butterfield is one rockstar Christian. If you haven’t read any of her books, you really need to! She’s truly a treasure and one who faithfully follows Christ. Last year(ish), she publicly repented of her sin of pronoun hospitality to the LGBTQ community. She didn’t excuse it in the least. She just repented. Was it expected? Nope. Was it necessary? I’d say, yes.

How much more so with this? LORD knows, if something like the pandemic happens again, we need our leaders to bravely say no, regardless of what anyone has to say (even within the body of the church). No, we won’t close our doors because you tell us to. We are essential to the community. The church will continue to meet, as God’s Word tells us (Hebrews 10:25). We are to obey the authority of man until it conflicts with God’s authority. LORD I pray church leaders stand firm on this.

Repentance is simple, but extremely difficult to do. But guess what? We’re not called to do what’s easy, but to do what’s right.

Sin, repentance, forgiveness

His Grace Is Enough is such a cute book for kids about sin, repentance, and God’s forgiveness. Clearly, the church needs an adult version. Oh wait! We have one. It’s called the BIBLE. Pray for all of us to be faithful to it.

And for those of you who want to wear your commitment to repentance around, check out these GREAT SOCKS! Repentance is a daily (hourly, moment by moment) activity. What better way to remind ourselves than to put on these socks?

SIDENOTE: Clear Truth Media is an awesome source of information. HERE is a really enlightening video that talks about how when application of the Word started to trump doctrine, that set up a slow slide to accept the closing of church doors and the acceptance of the nonsense that happened in 2020. Definitely worth the listen if you have about 20 minutes (or 10 minutes at 2X speed!)