Regret and Repentance

The introduction of this book personally cut deep into my heart. I know first hand what it means to regret. Unlike most of you I have two grown children and a failed marriage that reminds me constantly that I must not take my responsibilities as a husband and father too lightly. As a young Christian I bought into the lie (hoodwinked, bamboozled, led astray) of the moralistic, therapeutic, feel good Christianity. I was promised by Christian authors that if I followed all the directions of their books, I would be a successful father and husband which would lead to a perfect family and as a result I would be happy, as if happiness is the real goal in life. I now realize that none of those authors even dared to rebuke me, telling me that I needed to repent. Maybe it is because telling people that they need to live a life of repentance doesn't sell books, or maybe the authors really didn't understand the Gospel. But instead of bitterness, I now have peace and can rejoice.

ROMANS 5:1-5 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Familia Semper Reformanda,
Jason