Repentance - Asbury Awakening

Much has been written and said about the events atAsbury University in the town of Wilmore Kentucky.  Reports of an awakening underway first at Asbury and later spreading to other campuses have captured the attention of even secular news organization.  This awakening has occurred among reports of other awakenings in lands beyond our shores as well.

I read an article written by a person who has written books about previous movements of the Spirit in colleges and church settings.  one of the comments he made that made him speak to the authenticity of the Asbury movement is repentance.  

Repentance is not a word we hear about a lot today. We get much more on grace. Before I go much further, I want to offer the dictionary definition of repentance — “the action of repenting: sincere regret or remorse.” From a theological perspective, I have also that repentance involves a “turning away”, so not only a sorry for something, but also the idea that you have realized that sin is destroying your life and you are ready to surrender your life to God and the principles of Scripture. This is an important distinction. I can be sorry that my action caused you pain, but true repentance would also mean that I will willfully work to not recreate that pain again.

So in the article that I was reading the author advanced the idea that a major component of true revival is repentance.  I am going to resist the urge to say “true repentance” because there is no room for an idea of false repentance. One of the common images of the Asbury Awakening is people at the alter.  The alter is quickly becoming an afterthought in many of our churches.  While I don’t believe the alter is the only place where repentance occurs, it can occur any place where the sacred and the secular meet, the alter has served for generations in our churches as a sacred place of experience with the Holy Spirit. 

Intimacy with God will always begin with repentance.  This is repeated in scripture so many times to ensure we don’t miss that point.  Repentance is mentioned so often and the verses in which it appears leads to a conclusion that it is essential in the human relationship with God.  Much has been written about the holiness of God.  

Imagine if you will the cleanest, whitest, brightest sheet, so clean and bright that it radiates an aura.  Onto that sheet now imagine the smallest speck of dirt.  It would instantly draw our eye. I believe that is the picture of our presence before the Most High God.  His holiness consumes us.  It overwhelms us.  And when we repent, the biblical witness is clear, we are forgiven.  And that forgiveness allows us to be enveloped by God’s holiness and stand in his presence.

I am going to say something that some may consider near-heretical, so bear with me.  I believe that we are loved even before we are forgiven.  Some will draw a picture that prior to  our repentance, God hates us.  I don't find that consistent at all with the witness of scripture.  I will admit that I understand what those who will disagree are saying, I just hope that they can bear with me for my explanation.  I believe that this is a clear statement of scripture found in Romans 5:8, where the apostle Paul tells us, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

So God doesn't go from hating us to loving us because of our salvation through repentance. But we go from resisting to embracing His love and being able to live into the transformed life assured through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. This process begins with our repentance — our acknowledgement of sin and earnestly desiring to change. It likely will not be a perfected desire — we are people and while we might earnestly desire not to sin, we likely will sin. The desire is that we will be more mindful of the impact and potential for sin and will slowly walk back from the reality of sin in our lives.

So back to Asbury, and the other awakenings we are seeing reports of across the land (and even the world if you follow some of the events beyond our borders). I constantly read where a key theme in these awakenings is repentance. It is a desire to move away from the path we are on and onto the path prepared for us by a God that loves us beyond measure. This is not about God accepting us for who we are, but about us accepting God's vision for who we will be. And that begins by no longer resisting the creator of the universe and yielding to His plan for our lives. A plan that will move us into full measure!