Please, prayerfully, read Ezekiel 22. Ask the Lord Jesus Christ to teach you what YOU need to learn from this Bible passage, no matter who you are, or what you do, or your social or economic stature in this life. You are not exempt from this spiritual decision, AND you WILL make a decision. You will, deliberately, accept or reject God and His Christ, or you will make the decision to neglect or put off dealing with this issue, which also rejects God and Christ, in that moment. Whatever your immediate decision, God is still calling YOU. The truth is that God seeks honest working repentance and faith in us.
Do not confuse repentance with the religious falsehood of penance. And, don't confuse either of those with attempts to make restitution to those whom you have offended or hurt. Restitution is an agreed upon settlement between you and another person. Repentance is your willing surrender to God, and is only between you and God. Repentance consists of calling sin what God calls it, then you admitting to God that you are truly sorry for your sin, as well as that you are not worthy and have no way to pay for your own sin, AND, lastly, that you completely accept that Jesus and His sacrifice, death, and resurrection, alone, fully pay the price for and provide victory over your sin. If you do repent, then trust in God's forgiveness, for the blood of Christ already paid the full price of sin for everyone, including YOU. We can only receive God's forgiveness when we humble ourselves before God and receive forgiveness and salvation by faith, admitting that we do not deserve it. That is why it is called God's grace, grace being unmerited favor.
Penance, by its works, says that the perfect sinless blood and finished work of Jesus Christ are insufficient to pay for your sin and that you (a sinner) must add your sin-tainted works to the perfect sinless sacrifice that Jesus made on your behalf. Repentance toward God and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ IS God's ONLY plan. Penance is nothing less than people making believe that they, yet being sinners, can pay, pay back, God for their own sins. To be honest, and biblical, God says that their attempts at penance are blasphemous and delusional on their part.
Once you've read Ezekiel 22, please, look to God's plan of salvation, that you not have to suffer similar judgments as those that the Jewish people had brought upon themselves, and that God gave as a testimony to us. They are God's chosen people, for a holy example to the rest of us, so, carefully bear their historical lessons in mind. There is great peace and joy in surrendering to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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