What Is Good Repentance?

(By Diego Cuartas)

Whether we all use the same word to describe the need for change is not as relevant as the fact that as human beings we all understand what is implied by the expectation to repent or change. Not everything about us—our thoughts, words, attitudes or actions—is admirable! There is always room and a need for change—in this blog I will call this repentance.

I remember the days when my two brothers and I would get into playing rough and loud, and my father would warn us that if there was not a change (repentance) in our behavior we would experience physical consequences that usually involved pain. What my father was calling for was a change of our behavior at the moment. Remember the warnings you received from a teacher, your parents or perhaps a friend? Some of us have even experienced the warning offered by a law-enforcement officer while driving on a road where we ignored the law of the land!

I have personally experienced many moments in my life in which my intent to repent was very superficial at best. Perhaps with the help of others I saw that there was a need for repentance in my life, but I only pursued such repentance to please others or pacify them in some way. I knew deep in my heart that though I was modifying my behavior I had remained the same person. So my brothers and I at times were lucky to calm down and avoid my father’s punishment, but deep inside we did not want the authority of our father over our lives in that moment—especially if his authority was bringing limitations to what we considered our wants and freedom in the moment!

May I suggest that in order for repentance to be good—effective and fruitful—we will need a more comprehensive approach to repentance. Let me explain. As human beings, we constantly display behaviors, but the reality is that we are more than behaviors. We are creatures with a command center that God has made with the capacities to desire, belief and strive. And at the core of these dynamics is our capacity to treasure or worship. What is true is that our behaviors are always in sync with what is happening in our command center—our hearts. So to speak of repentance and and pursue a repentance that is good, effective and fruitful, we need to consider both the behaviors and the heart. 

Think of it this way: behaviors are indicators (or the fruit) of what is really happening in our hearts. 

Good repentance will always require that we consider a journey into our hearts by using the path that our behaviors afford us. Let me illustrate through a personal simple journey:

I am making statements that are not my real opinion in a given conversation with a friend.

I am sensing that what I am doing is not sincere and therefore fake.

I am experiencing the guilt that comes with this moment.

I am now considering why I am doing this. Why am I not saying what my sincere opinion is?

As I follow the path of my behavior, I start noticing some desires, beliefs and agendas seeded deep in my heart.

I am noticing that I desire acceptance, not rejection; I see that there is also a belief in my heart that says, “You will not be safe if you tell the truth” and another one that says, “You will miss life if this person rejects you or disapproves of you.”

As I keep following the path into my heart, I also see that my agenda is now to control the conversation in order to secure the outcomes I really want.

Can you see it? In order to experience repentance—change—in who I am, I will need to consider both my behaviors and my heart. Good repentance then will lead me to explore and understand my behavior in light of my heart. Furthermore, good repentance will probably translate into addressing the wrong (idolatrous) desires, beliefs and agendas that rule my heart.

Good repentance is not something that happens in a vacuum. And it is not something we do within the confines of our own understanding and wisdom. A bigger, wiser and holier being than us will have to be our reference point and helper. In order to treasure or worship what is truly good and admirable we will need a transformation that only God can offer.

Stay tuned. Good repentance is possible! 

Would the World Notice if the Church Ceased to Exist?

(By Nate Howard)

Imagine...

Tomorrow, you awaken to find ShopRite has disappeared — along with every other grocery store! What if the police department was no more? What if, heaven forbid, chocolate ceased to exist? What if technology as we know it, including the internet, cell phones, even electricity, vanished without a trace?

It’s hard to imagine survival without life’s so-called necessities. But here’s a more challenging question: What if all Christian churches disappeared? What if Living Faith Alliance disappeared? Would it make any difference if we didn’t exist? Would anyone notice?
God imagines His church to be a world-changing church — that our presence would be felt, that people would know we exist. God said, "I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, that they might be for me a people, a name, a
praise, and a glory." (Jeremiah 13:11)
God intends the life of Jesus in His people to significantly alter the world. That’s what we want as well. We’ve set the course of LFA to be in pursuit of the life-changing presence of Jesus, impacting
South Jersey one life at a time.
The 5-year goals we have embraced (see the front cover) describe the kind of impact we imagine, not just as one church, but as a number of networked churches — call them church plants or multisite.
We want to engage our world, intentionally talking with our friends about the Gospel, experiencing the joy of watching them become Jesus followers, connected in true community, living a
purposeful life of mission.

Look again at the graphic. Do you see the five essential practices we intend to grow in? It really does start with you and me. So as we begin this new year, the questions facing each of us are:
‣ What values need to shift in our life?
‣ How must we change?
‣ What will God need to do in you and me for us to become the
church God envisions?

I hope you can see there is an urgency that each of us connect with
God. That’s why we are beginning 2015 with an all-church week of
prayer. Please use this guide to enter in to the life of your church.
Set aside this week and let your faith rise to grasp what God has
for us.

How To Create Habits for Your 2015 Resolutions.

Before we end the year 2014 I would like to recommend Joe Carter's blog on how to create patterns in your life--which is essential to any New Year's Resolutions. Carter is one of the editors for the Gospel Coalition and an author. Don't get discourage if you have not met your past resolutions. Today is a new day and God can make grace abound to you in whatever area of your life you are seeking to experience change in. May He aide you and sustain you! To read Carter's blog click here.

Diego Cuartas

“I will if” vs. “I will because”

(By Nate Howard)

God is forever reshaping us, like an expert potter. And since God is very relational (think: Trinity), one area in which He is continually attempting to change us is the basic way we relate to each other. Here’s an example to think about. In relationships, is your posture, “I will because” (which is covenant thinking) or “I will if” (which is contract thinking)?

When I’m in the mode “I will if,” I’m looking to the other person to meet certain conditions and IF he/she does what I require, then I WILL act on their behalf. It’s like we have this unwritten contract, I WILL be good to them IF … 

When I’m in the mode “I will because,” I’m not looking first to the condition of the other person (if they are good, bad, worthy, unworthy, etc.). Rather, I look elsewhere, like, perhaps, to my promise to them, or my promise to God. Then, I WILL be good to them BECAUSE my eyes are on something other than them — I do that because that’s my covenant.

I believe if you look at most troubled relationships, you will find “I will if” thinking. Let’s change that and become a church that cooperates with God’s reshaping agenda of the way we do relationships! And I WILL stay in relationship with you, not IF you meet my expectations, but BECAUSE He has called us to be together. 

Weighed Down!

(By Tammy Vaughn) 

Lately I have been learning a lot about the process of losing weight.  I started this journey in February 2013.  My current diet is mostly based on Dr. Fuhrman’s “Eat To Live” plan.  It is a way of eating that has totally changed my life.  It has been eight months now, and I have lost 62 pounds.  What once seemed impossible is now happening little by little.  How did this radical change all start?  It started with me feeling hopeless and helpless.

My father passed away in November 2011 from a very rare and aggressive cancer called Sarcamatoid Carcinoma.  The medical personnel kept saying that they could not get the proper read on certain medical tests because of his large habitus.  “Large habitus?”  It dawned on me that they were referencing his overweight body.  The words “large habitus” would ring in my ears.  Was it not awful enough that he had rare and aggressive cancer and was dying?  Did they have to keep referring to his 350 pound body as a “large habitus?”  This made me angry for a couple reasons, but mostly because it made me wonder what future medical treatments would be difficult for me since I also had a “large habitus”.  Two weeks after my father’s diagnosis, my family had to make the difficult decision to take my father off of life support. Now let me say, I know that my father is with Jesus, so I rest and take comfort in that.

The next life event that made me focus on my weight was a knee surgery that I had in June 2012.  My knee just never quite healed, and in the process of treatment, my doctor told me I would eventually need double knee replacements.  I had just turned 40 years old.  One of the main contributing factors to the decline in my knees was due to my “large habitus.”  The key to putting off knee replacement surgery was to lose weight.

I was frustrated, embarrassed and in pain.  It was sobering to think I would need surgery due to beating my knees down daily with my weight.  Finally it was all catching up to me.  The pain was so bad in my knee that I just thought to myself on several occasions, “I am going to have to live my life in a wheelchair or scooter.”  I was getting comfortable, coming to a resolve that this was how it was going to be.  I want you to understand how hopeless I felt.  I was going to give up!  After all, I had been on every diet you could imagine, including an all liquid diet for weeks.  Nothing worked, and now I was looking at major surgery if I did not lose weight.  Now a scooter or mobilized wheelchair is fine IF this is what is genuinely needed.  For me however, I would end up in the power chair because I was overweight and did nothing about it.  I would be choosing to live in defeat.

In talking to a close friend about this, I told her that, “I want to know the resurrection power of Jesus Christ in this area of my life.”  To me this was a way to say, “Jesus, this area of my life is dead, hopeless, lifeless, stagnant, even sinful, but the resurrection power can bring what is dead back to life.”  Paul said, “I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection” (Phil 3:10).

I have experienced that power in other areas of my life, so I know Jesus gives us access to this power.  In fact, this is the reason He victoriously came and conquered death—so that I do not have to live defeated.  Yet I was choosing just that.  I knew in my head that Jesus has the power to heal and change people; I just did not believe it could happen for me, in this area of my life.  Oh me of little faith!  Here I had access all along to the power to change.  I just felt extremely hopeless and overwhelmed.  One large uphill battle!

While on a family vacation in January 2012, my brother came to me and told me about an eating plan he and my sister-in-law were going to follow.  He said he saw me struggling and wanting to lose weight.  He then offered to journey with me, not just to lose weight but also to get healthy.  He presented Dr. Fuhrman’s “Eat To Live” book and plan to me.  It was radical.  He told me I would have to radically change how you eat.  He said “I know you can know the resurrection power of Jesus Christ in this area of your life.  You pray about it.”  I did not really need to pray about it; I had prayed the same prayer earlier that week- to know the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.  Reluctant to start yet another “diet” only to fail, I told him I was in!

Well, fast forward eight months.  With the help of Jesus, good accountability, support from my family and friends and Dr. Fuhrman’s medical team in North Jersey, I have lost 62 pounds.  I have gone down five pant sizes and two shirt sizes.  Seems like a miracle to me some days; other days it’s not enough and I still have a long way to go.

I believe that Jesus will continue to help me lose weight.  It is not easy.  At times I want to give up.  But Jesus has helped give me the strength to resist temptation, to persist and be disciplined one meal at a time.  I have knowledge about food that I did not have before.  And knowledge is power.  I don’t see quitting as an option, although I want to some days.  I can really feel God doing something new in my body and in my mind.  I’m often encouraged by 2 Corinthians 5:17, “If any is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”

I value the support of my brothers and sisters in Christ.  I also call out to my brother when I am struggling or feel I cannot eat one more salad.  God uses him to encourage me to get back on track.   I view my eating as an act of worship unto the Lord.  My body belongs to Him; it is His temple.  Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore I urge you brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God.  This is your spiritual act of worship.”  I cannot possibly do all God has called me to do while slowly destroying my body and eventually killing myself with food.  I was created for more than just drowning in my own fat!  Maybe this sounds extreme.  It is not extreme to me when I think about watching my father die in Cooper Hospital because he had tumors growing inside the fat of his abdomen that they could not see because of his “large habitus”.  It motivates me to keep going.

I am fully aware that it will not happen on my own strength alone.  I am so grateful for my wonderful loving Savior who loves me and cares about me and gave me a new sense of hope in this area of my life.  The praise is all due to Him!  I hope you feel encouraged to present the areas of your life where you feel hopeless and defeated to Jesus.  Pray and tell Him that you want to know the resurrection power of Jesus Christ in that area of your life.  That power is available to all of His Children.  I hope someone is shouting Amen somewhere! I know I am!