Repentance and Return

by Tom Frazier

Why are so many working so hard to preserve a home that isn’t theirs?

Why are we pouring energy into maintaining an identity that was crucified with Christ?

Why are we spending our lives to make the world comfortable when we’ve been called out of it?

Jesus didn’t die so we could have better governments. He died to make us His own.

He didn’t rise again to empower our patriotism. He rose to seat us in heavenly places.

He didn’t pour out the Spirit so we could influence society. He gave us the Spirit so we could be conformed to Him.

The Church needs to repent.

We need to repent of our idols — of our obsession with influence, relevance, control, and comfort.

We need to return to our first love.

We need to remember that we are not our own. That we were bought with a price. That we are citizens of heaven. That our names are written in glory. That our treasure is in Christ.

We need to come out of Babylon and return to the wilderness, where God speaks tenderly to His people.

We need to weep between the porch and the altar. We need to rend our hearts and not our garments. We need to stop pretending that everything is fine.

Because it’s not. We’ve wandered. We’ve compromised. We’ve flirted with the world.

But the Bridegroom is calling. The Spirit is wooing. The time is short.

Let us forsake everything that entangles. Let us shake off the dust of this age. Let us rise in purity and power and love.

Let us return to Christ. Not in theory. Not in words. But in truth.

And let us be militant — just down on our knees

© 1993 Winthrop House / Revised 2022. Used by permission of the author.