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Musings on Faith #54 The Necessity of Contrition | |
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"The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise (Psalm 51:17, KJV)." This is a well-known Scripture, but what does it mean? First of all, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." Another way of saying this is "My sacrifice to You, O God, is a broken spirit." In other words, broken in the willfulness of man, convicted of my sin, repentant, and turning to God for salvation or redemption; realizing that all else is meaningless, and that the answer lies only in God. If we are not "broken" in spirit, we will not turn to God in the way that He wishes for us to do. We are not His slaves, but His children. Nevertheless, if we come before Him in an attitude of entitlement or privilege, we will not surrender our will to God’s will for our lives, and we will not receive the fullness of the blessings He wishes to pour out upon us. We will still have one foot in the carnal world and the other in the Spiritual. The Scriptures make clear, over and over again, that this is unacceptable to God.
Then comes that word "contrite". What is "contrite"? Webster’s New International Dictionary of the English Language defines it as "(1) Regretful, sorrowful, broken in spirit because of a sense of sin; (2) Broken down with grief and penitence; deeply sorrowful for sin; humbly and thoroughly penitent." A penitent person is a person who repents of sin |
(Webster’s). If we approach God full of pride, or defensiveness, or denial, or self-justification, or uttering excuses, we certainly are not contrite. Why is this important? Well, first of all, God tells us, through His Word (Psalm 51:17, above) that if we do not come to Him with a "broken spirit" and "a broken and a contrite heart" He will despise our supplications and prayers. Why? Because they are prayers of words only, and not uttered from a soul deeply yearning for the healing of the Spirit of God. Word prayers are distinguished by utterances of repentance not followed up with actions reflecting true repentance. If we come to God with a broken and contrite heart, seeking His will for our lives, then both God and man will see a difference in us. There will be a turning away from sin and from the carnal life toward a new life, lived in accord with the Spirit and will of God, through Jesus Christ. Contrition is necessary to true repentance and a genuine turning away from sin.
Let us not deceive ourselves. Do we have a true repentance, borne of a broken spirit and a broken and contrite heart? If so, the fruit of that contrite and broken condition will be a life lived in daily obedience to God’s will for our lives. Father, give us a broken spirit and a contrite heart, in Christ’s name, Amen. |
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