August 8: Insight Post by Mario Colorado
Weekly Reading: Luke 23:32-43
Friday Reflection
Bearing Fruit for God’s Kingdom: Our lives can bear lasting fruit when rooted in Christ.
Friday Verse
And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:6-7 (NLT)
Friday Questions
What fruit is my life bearing for God’s Kingdom? How can I continue to root my life in Christ, allowing my faith to grow and overflow with thankfulness as I live out His truth daily?
Friday Insight Post
by Mario Colorado
This week’s reading highlighted Jesus’ interaction with the two criminals on the crosses next to Him. This interaction is immensely important in our faith because it underscores the vast differences between God’s judgement and our sense of what justice is. It further distinguishes the difference between remorsefulness, sorrow, and what leads to repentance.
The word “sorrow” or to be “sorry” can broadly mean to be regretful of a circumstance, situation, or action. We can universally agree that all three individuals on those crosses were sorry to be there. Remorse, on the other hand, has a more precise definition of deep regret based on our own misdeeds or wrongdoing, which leads to repentance.
For me, this is a reminder of how I can hold myself accountable for those times when I acted or reacted in a way that displeases God and did not shine as the light. My deep desire is to be intentional in every moment I mess up and to learn from it. The trick, however, is recognizing the difference of being “sorry” and being remorseful. It is easy to be sorry. Being sorry can look like, “man, I really should not have cut that guy off (or just let him merge in), I am a Christian. I hope he didn’t notice the New Hope Church sticker on the back.”
Remorsefulness requires me to be intentional about the mistake I have made. It means that I need to pray and ask for forgiveness. It means that I need to repent. Repentance looks different from circumstance to circumstance. Sometimes it’s asking for forgiveness from the offended party. Sometimes it’s more than that. I want to learn from what I did, and I want to make progress towards minimizing future sinful behaviors. Paul sums up this idea well in Romans:
15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. Roman 7:15-20 (NLT)
Mario Colorado
New Hope Volunteer Manager
New Hope Church
Lorton, Virginia
www.newhope.org