I was stuck by this view of repentance:
"We see our first repentance and surrender to Christ as a glorious moment. But in talking to many believers, I get the impression that most of us consider the on-going repentance of the saved as a not-so-glorious experience. A sort of sad necessity.
We must not play down the seriousness of sin in the life of a believer. But we must come to terms with the fact that God’s grace is GREATER THAN ALL OUR SINS. Repentance is one of the Christian’s highest privileges. A repentant Christian focuses on God’s mercy and God’s grace. Any moment in our lives when we bask in God’s mercy and grace is our highest moment. Higher than when we feel smug in our decent performance and cannot think of anything we need to confess.
Whenever we fail, and fail we will, the Spirit of God will work on us and bring us to the foot of the cross where Jesus carried our failures. That is potentially a glorious moment. For we could at that moment accept God’s abundant mercy and grace and go forth with nothing to boast of except Christ Himself, or else we could struggle with our shame, focusing on that as well as our track record." (Muta Mahiaini, in Jerry Bridges, The Discipline of Grace, 27, 28)
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I am one of those who would agree that to have to return again and again having f****d up for the umpteen-millionth time definitely counts as "not-so-glorious." (your Mr Bridges apparently has a gift for understatement)
I suppose an outfielder who can't seem to consistently catch a ball (even when hit right at him), can and should be grateful that the manager hasn't booted him off the team, when this is what we deserve. I still get to wear the uniform--and even play in the game.
But when ball after ball is booted, requiring repentance, I'm sorry, but I have a hard time equating this with glory.
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