“I’m sorry! I’ll never do it again!” That’s the common response to getting caught with the hand in the cookie jar. At least that was my response.

It’s a promise I made time and time again. But for some reason, my parents never seemed to believe me. Probably because I had to keep pleading it time and time again. Being sorry for getting caught didn’t stop me from trying again.

Repentance is not being sorry because one got caught. Repentance is sorrow at the realization of one’s sins against the law of God and against the God of the law. It is a return to the word and way of God. It is a purging of idolatry from one’s life.

Our sermon for Sunday at First Magnolia comes from 2 Kings 22:3-23:20 and 2 Chronicles 34:3-33. Read it with particular attention to the effect of God’s Word toward repentance. Search your own heart before God this weekend. Be ready to hear the Word of God afresh this Sunday.