Repent and Believe
Rhythm: Be with Jesus
The gospel of Mark moves quickly and is action-driven towards Jesus’ words and works. Much like the war film, 1917, which followed two soldiers tasked with delivering a life-or-death message to Colonel Mackenzie. With 1,600 men hanging in the balance of this delivery, they had less than sixteen hours to successfully deliver this message. Whereas the gospel of Mark is focused on one man, the man Christ Jesus, and His message of life in exchange for His death. That is exactly how John Mark expresses his authorial intent of Jesus’ ministry. Within the very first chapter, Mark gets right to the gospel, ‘Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”’ (Mk. 1:14–15). Just as the lifesaving news successfully reached Colonel Mackenzie (spoiler alert), Jesus is proclaiming the good news of the gospel, that there is life in Himself, so repent and believe in Him.
In the same way, wars determine the outcome of how people’s lives are sovereignly lived, Jesus is bringing cosmic war terms. However, the war is unseen, and its effects change nations. This was precisely the message of the kingdom of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is news that demands a response because the time is at hand. God’s kingdom is being inaugurated, so repent and believe. The implication of this response to repent and believe is not just an event but an ongoing response to the reality of who is sovereignly reigning over our lives. It is the beginning of basic training under the sovereign rule of the kingdom of God. In the same way, the two soldiers’ basic training equipped them to accomplish their mission of delivering a message, our basic training in spiritual disciplines begins with confessing and repenting of our old way of thinking, believing, and acting, and turning toward God’s way according to His kingdom because it is now a reality.
As we Follow Jesus Together, we are called to live according to His spiritual rhythms, which begin with confession and repentance (turning from ourselves) and turning towards Him in full trust of our lives. Confession and repentance are the beginning posture of humbling ourselves under His mighty hand and it is an everyday process. John the Baptist expressed this idea as ‘bear fruits in keeping with repentance’ (Lk. 3:8). In other words, there is an attitudinal reality of us confessing (affirming God’s nature and will of) our rebellious hearts and repenting of (turning from) our selfish desires towards His desires (His will). This is a daily dynamic in the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and when we recognize that process, it empowers us to pursue humility. The temptation is when focusing on confession and repentance a lot, we start to feel and believe that we are terrible people, like it is a constant beatdown. Know that this is the flesh’s response to God’s work in our lives.
Be encouraged that confessing and repenting of our self-centeredness daily, is a daily dose of God’s enabling grace that the Holy Spirit is conforming into the image of Christ, the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). We must embrace the grace of the Holy Spirit convicting us of our sin, that we would confess it and repent of it, trusting the process of His rhythms of grace. So, trust the process of confessing and repenting—daily let this discipline become your delight.
Written By Michael Van Dyke