Testing of Repentance

Nehemiah 5:11 Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.

Nehemiah commands the nobles and the rich Jews to show their repentance immediately by returning back to the poor the ransoms they took. 

When Jesus entered the house, heart and life of Zacchaeus, the tax collector didn’t just regret of all his past wrong doings but proved his repentance by returning back in multiple times what he collected more than he supposed to do.

Luke 19:8 And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold.”

This is what John the Baptist says:

Luke 3:8 Bear fruits in keeping with repentance.

Luke 3:8 Bear fruits that are deserving and consistent with [your] repentance [that is,conduct worthy of a heart changed, a heart abhorring sin]

Luke 3:8
Prove by the way you live that you have repented of your sins and turned to God.

Yes, we come across certain situations in our life where our repentance is tested.

I have always wondered why the Lord places me in the same set of circumstances over again and again,  where I am spiritually weak.

I easily grumble when I am physically weak and tired. But my husband frequently travels, I am left alone to handle everything at home and work which makes me very weak and extremely tired. 

I fume and grumble when people are so mean and does unfair things. And the mean people never change for years, they keep repeating the things they do to me. 

Then I realized these repeated situations are the opportunities where my repentance from grumbling is tested and through which the Master Sculptor keeps sculpting His image in me!!

Dear sisters, do we stand the test of the repentance? 

Does our life, word and deeds prove our repentance when we are repeatedly tested?

May we not lose heart when God places us in the same tough situations over and over again, it is where our repentance is tested and it is where we made are strong in the areas where we are weak. Like a prince of a nation is trained from his childhood for war, God trains us for greater glory through this same, repeated difficult situations.  

Hebrews 12:9-11 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.