The Road to Progress: Going Backward to Go Forward
I’ve been thinking about repentance a lot lately – mostly because I taught the book of Acts this past semester and repentance is a major component of the Gospel proclamation in Luke’s account. This spring semester I’m back in the “Old” Testament teaching the Book of the Twelve. If I had to choose one word to express the theme espoused by those Twelve prophets it would be the Hebrew term שׁוּב shub. The word means to “turn back, return, repent or restore.” The imagery is that of a turnabout.
In Mere Christianity, the old sage C.S. Lewis explains how this turnabout is actually the way forward:
“We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. There is nothing progressive about being pig-headed and refusing to admit a mistake. And I think if you look at the present state of the world it's pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistake. We're on the wrong road. And if that is so we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on.”
J.A. Thompson notes, “Critical in this turnabout, if it is to be repentance, is the direction to which one turns, namely, to Yahweh.” Thus the Apostle Paul said he preached to Jews and Gentiles “that they should repent and turn to God.” (Acts 26:20). Turning from sin is never enough to sustain us. Only in turning to something greater than sin may we find strength to go forward. This turn to God remains central to our growth in Christ. Only in Him may we “become partakers of the divine nature” and escape “from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Peter 1:4)
I’ve come to see that true repentance isn’t about saving my own skin but returning to the source of all that is good and beautiful and true. Repentance opens the door to communion with our Creator who longs to be with us.
You might like to ponder the words of Jeremiah 3:22-4:2, where the prophet gives us an extended meditation on the aspects of repentance. Below is the text with a few comments gleaned from Thompson’s article. May this meditation draw you closer to the One who loves you more than you can imagine.
Jeremiah 3:22-4:2: A Meditation on Turning
“Return, faithless people;
I will cure you of backsliding.”
“Yes, we will come to you,
for you are the Lord our God. Acknowledging God’s Lordship
23 Surely the idolatrous commotion on the hills
and mountains is a deception; Admitting Wrongdoing
surely in the Lord our God
is the salvation of Israel.
24 From our youth shameful gods have consumed
the fruits of our ancestors’ labor—
their flocks and herds,
their sons and daughters.
25 Let us lie down in our shame, Facing the Shame
and let our disgrace cover us.
We have sinned against the Lord our God, A Verbal Confession
both we and our ancestors;
from our youth till this day
we have not obeyed the Lord our God.”
4 “If you, Israel, will return,
then return to me,”
declares the Lord.
“If you put your detestable idols out of my sight
and no longer go astray, Committing to and Affirming New Behavior
2 and if in a truthful, just and righteous way
you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’
then the nations will invoke blessings by him
and in him they will boast.”
*For a more striking, un-sanitized translation, read the ESV or NRSV.