We talked about true repentance tonight and used the visual Mr. Dave Hancock gave us in his sermon on Sunday. Basically, Mr. Dave said that walking around and calling yourself a Christian and even acting and talking like one does not qualify you as a true Christian if you have not first sincerely repented from the sins in your life. We talked about the steps to true repentance...confessing our sins to God, asking for His forgiveness, and then turning 180 degrees from those sins.Mr. Dave gave us the visual of painting a car that had rust on it without first removing the rust (sin, in this case). The car might look nice on the outside for a while, but soon the paint will start to bubble and chip and peel because of the underlying rust. So too, we cannot walk around looking and acting like Christians on the outside for very long before our true selves come to the surface, especially when we face hardships and unexpected trials.
We passed images around of rusted cars and bad paint jobs because of the rust underneath. Then we spoke of the tedious process of removing rust from a vehicle. Rust can be sanded off using a sandblaster, buffed out, cut out of a vehicle, or even chemically neutralized. Even after the rust is taken care of however, there is still work that needs to be done before the car can be repainted. Fillers and compounds need to be used to fill in the body where the rust used to be. Then the spots must be sanded down or even gently banged into shape with a rubber mallet so they match the rest of the car. In severe cases of rust, new patches must be wielded in where the rust was removed or entire panels of the car actually replaced! Only after all of this is done can a car be repainted.
The article I found on killing and removing rust from a vehicle actually said, "The best way to ensure that rust won't return is to completely remove it from the car." How appropriate! Likewise, the best way to ensure that sin won't return is to completely remove it from the person through genuine repentance.
We talked about how simple this act is in comparison to removing rust from a car and how good our God is to have made it so easy for us. We also discussed how, though simple, it can still be a painful process as it requires broken hearts, torn down walls, and admitting we have sinned against our Savior.
Then we took the kids into the prayer room and gave them the opportunity to use the altars to get quiet before the Lord and search themselves for any unrepentant sins they may have. We gave them as much time as they needed.
