A Big Red Buick and Repentance
One of my favorite cars we have owned during our marriage was a big red Buick. We bought it used (of course), but it was in great shape and was a really nice car. It was rather large and had plenty of room for all four of us.
The story I remember most about that car involves a trip to Gatlinburg for a vacation. We had a great time on that trip and saw lots of beautiful scenery in the mountains.
As is our custom we made plans to attend Wednesday night Bible Study with the church there, but it had been a long time since we had been to that building. We decided that we should locate the church building during the day so we would know how to get there that evening. This was long before cell phones or GPS in the car.
We started up the road that we thought we remembered leading to the building, but the farther we went, the less it looked like the right road – but we kept going (that’s a story for another time). The farther we went, the narrower the road became and the higher we were going in the mountains. It began to look more like a one lane road, but we kept going. The person on the passenger side of the car (that would be me) was looking straight down the side of that mountain, and it was a long distance to the bottom!
I want to insert here that I kept saying, “This is not the way to the church building!” We were at a point where I had the kids scooting to the left side of the car, and I was leaning as far as I could toward the driver’s side. It was at this point that we came to a very slight widening of the road, and Jim very calmly said, “I’m going to turn around here.” Of course, my response was, “You’re going to do what???”
He proceeded to inch that big red Buick back and forth on that little path to turn that car around. I prayed while I was crying. At one point when we were halfway to turning around, the front of that car was sticking out over that side of the mountain and I prayed even more!
Suffice it to say that he did manage to get that car turned around and back down that road, and we did finally find the church building. It’s one of the stories we tell when we get together as a family, and we laugh about that big red Buick on a bike trail.
But what does that have to do with repentance?
There have been many times I have thought about that incident and the meaning of repentance comes into my mind. You see, repentance involves sorrow and regret, but ultimately a person must make a complete change in the direction he/she is traveling. Were we sorry and regretful about the fact that we had taken that road? YES! However, what saved us was a change of direction. It was very difficult to make that change in direction, but if we wanted to be safe, we had to turn around and go the other way.
Isn’t that exactly what a person who gets caught up in sin must do to be saved? The Bible gives a very clear picture of what happens to a person who is tempted and headed in the wrong direction (James 1:14:15). Unless he/she realizes they are going in the wrong direction, regrets what they are doing to the point that that ask for God’s forgiveness, and does a complete turn to go the other direction they will be lost.
Changing directions in life is hard. Satan makes it easy for many people to feel comfortable with their direction in life, but Christians should be able to recognize that they are going away from God and the safety of His arms, and make a change in the direction of their life.
All of us need to check the direction we are traveling in life. Make sure it is leading you toward God. If not, you need to ask God for forgiveness and do a complete 180-degree in direction.
We turned that big red Buick around on that skinny little road and headed toward safety.
You can do the same thing in your spiritual life. Turn around and head toward safety.
“For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret…” (2 Corinthians 7:10)
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AUTHOR: Donna Faughn
