That First Step
Josh Thayer
“But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden.” Revelation 2:20-24
John is writing here to the church in Thyatira. Now, this was a working man’s town full of different merchants, but was primarily secular, with no focus on any particular religion. Here we stumble upon a woman who was teaching that immorality for believers was no big deal. She was caught up in sexual sin herself and like the Scripture says, “refuses to repent.”
Repent simply means to change our mind and direction from following our way to following God’s way. It sounds simple when you write it out, but I believe once the devil knows you want to repent, he will throw everything at you to fall back into sin. This is where reliance on God is the only way out. It is when you need to devote yourself to reading the Bible, spending time in prayer, and having other people in your life who will walk with you and pray for you. I am here to tell you today, that whatever sin you are caught up in, you can be free! The first step is to change your mind and direction.
We also see here a strong reminder of God’s omnipresence. That is a fancy word for God is always present. If we truly understood that word, I think repentance would be a lot easier. Realizing that God was standing right next to me in the flesh, would I still sin? We see here in the Scripture, “I am he who searches mind and heart.” We cannot hide from God. He knows what is in our hearts and minds, and He still loves us. That last statement gets me every time because I know what goes on in my heart and mind, and for God to still choose to love me brings me to tears. I want to ask, “Why me God, I am not worth it?” If you hear anything today, you are worth it. God sent His one and only son for you! Jesus died on a cross so that we could have an opportunity at salvation and a ticket into Heaven for eternity.
Whatever you are going through in your life, know you are not alone and you are not trapped. There is a way out and it begins with changing your mind and direction and running to God. It is choosing to spend more time in His Word and in prayer. It will not be easy and it will not happen overnight, but Jesus desires you more than anything. So take that first step today, right now, and walk into freedom with Jesus.