In Mark 6 Jesus sent out the twelve apostles on mission. They cast out demons, healed people, and preached. 

Verse 12 tells us something specific about the content of their preaching: “They went out and preached that people should repent.”

Let’s face it. Repentance isn’t a very popular topic. If you show up at a party on Friday night and start talking about repentance you’re not going to be Mr. or Mrs. Popular!

But Jesus talked about it, the first apostles talked about it, Paul talked about it, and the Bible talks about it—a lot.

Repentance is about taking a U-Turn. My Louw-Nida Greek lexicon defines it like this: “to change one’s way of life as the result of a complete change of thought and attitude with regard to sin and righteousness.”

‘Dear Lord, I’ve __________ [fill in the blank]. Please forgive me. Help me do a U-Turn in thought, word and deed. Lead me forward in a way that pleases you.’

Rosaria Butterfield writes that “repentance is the threshold to God.”* Think of a threshold to a house. When you cross it you get to benefit from everything that is in the house, including its warmth, food and the hospitality of the owners. In a similar way, repentance leads you over the threshold toward greater intimacy and power in your relationship with God.

We live in a time when celebrities, T.V. personalities, some of your friends, and maybe even some churches, will only tell you things you want to hear. That’s a problem. If taking a U-Turn is needed—and if it is stressed by Jesus, the first apostles, Paul, and the Bible—then we should pay attention too.

God is good. He wants things that are good for us. Including this.

Do you need to repent of something? Be honest. God’s ways are always the best ways.

Cross the threshold.

“They went out and preached that people should repent.”

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Notes:

–“Dealing with Rejection.” Sermon. December 1, 2024. Click here.

–**Rosaria Butterfield, Five Lies Of Our Anti-Christian Age (Wheaton: Crossway, 2023), 248.

–Bible quotes from the NIV.