STEP #3: REPENTANCE

Read Micah and reassess life. Step #1 – read your Bible and be wise about how God is guiding your life.

Addiction is a chemical connection to a sin that you physically need to battle. Your battle may be an actual physical sin like immoral actions, or it may be a psychological sin that is in your mind – a synapse that is connected to something visual. Either way, you are allowing the drug, adrenaline, fuel your life and make decisions for you. This drug is 100% defeated by God if you submit all of its power to Jesus.

Take adrenaline and put it in your hands (we are using our imaginations) look at it for a while. Ask it what good it had done for you. If you like what you see, then you are still under its power and you are not ready to repent. If you don’t like what you see in your hands, then you can give it away. Hold your hands up to heaven. Tell God honestly and without reproach that you are sorry and you hate your sin. Give your adrenaline to Jesus. He killed it on the cross – once and for all.

Hebrews 10:10-18

¹⁰ And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

¹¹ Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. ¹² But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, ¹³ and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. ¹⁴ For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

¹⁵ The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:

¹⁶ “This is the covenant I will make with them
    after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
    and I will write them on their minds.”^[b]

¹⁷ Then he adds:

“Their sins and lawless acts
    I will remember no more.”^[c]

¹⁸ And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.

God is sovereign over all things, for by Him all things were created, in Heaven and on Earth (Colossians 1:16).

There is a very serendipitous warning in Micah when it comes to sin – but it is a warning that exists throughout the Bible – God will bring you to ruin, if you are living in sin. The Bible is so clear, it is and “IF=THEN” Guidebook.

We know – IF you walk off the edge, THEN you will fall. IF you add 2 to the number 2, THEN you will get 4.

The Bible is clear. IF you live in sin, THEN you will be punished. You will be punished, but if you repent and turn away from your sin and ask for forgiveness, then you will be forgiven because GOD is full of grace and mercy. Mercy is the gift of God’s undeserved kindness and compassion.

Therefore, assess life, we know Step #s 1&2 are to Read the Bible and Live Below our Means, but now comes the IF = THEN.

Step #3 is REPENTANCE You can’t achieve Step #4 if you are not in the right place with Jesus in your life. One of the punishments you see in Micah is eating but never feeling full. If you suffer from this punishment, then you will consume all of your savings, like Dustin and I were doing with our over-indulgent lifestyle of eating at restaurants to the tune of $500-$600 a week.

Proverbs 30:6 – Do not add to his words,
    or he will rebuke you and prove you a liar.

You deny the power of the Bible, and you cheat yourself from the good life He promises you will have if you simply obey Him. John 15:10 – If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.

IF you obey = THEN you will be blessed.

This punishment also prevents you from saving anything of value – Micah 6:14.

You will eat but not be satisfied;
    your stomach will still be empty.^[a]
You will store up but save nothing,
    because what you save^[b] I will give to the sword.

You will try and save your money, but it will come to nothing in the end. All attempts of living life on your own terms will end up in destruction. The fuel you are using is your own ego and it is like putting sand in the gas tank of your vehicle. You will get nowhere and destroy your life in the meantime.

So if you cannot repent of your sin and turn away from living the way you are living and indulging in the sin you knowingly are participating in, you should probably stop reading this book. You will not be able to make it on your own merit. You are judged by the only righteous Judge who sees the thoughts and intent of your heart (Hebrews 4:12). You know that your sin does not equal reward and so you know that you are back to square one. Choice.

So Step #3 is Repentance. If you cannot repent, you will be consuming your savings and you will not be able to go further. Do not pass GO, and do not collect your $200, you remain in the prison of your choice.