Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting! Psalm 139:23-24
The story of Joseph and his brothers speaks very powerfully to us today. It points to the two questions at the heart of repentance:
Are we grieving the Father?
Are we grieving Him with some lie or deception? The Apostle John wrote, “If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth” (1 John 1:6). The brothers claimed to love the father, but in reality they were walking in darkness. They were living a lie, maintaining a pretense.
Are we harboring hatred for the Son?
The world cannot bear for Jesus to be exalted: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matt. 28:18). He also said, “Whoever loves father or mother…son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt. 10:37). And He warned, “Any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Lk. 14:33).
And the world has no place for the exclusivity of the Son’s claims: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). There is no room in this world for Jesus, who said, “No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him” (Matt. 11:27).
The world will always hate Jesus: “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18). Here is what needs to change in all of us: grieving the Father with our pretending and hating the dearly loved Son, because we do not want Him to rule over us. The heart of repentance is to stop grieving the Father and start loving the Son.
Would you ask God to search your heart today? Ask Him to show you where you need to stop pretending with God, and how you can make more room for Jesus in your heart.
