Turn and Believe: Am I Actually Turning?
Turn and believe.
Do you ever forget the “turn” part and move right into the “belief” portion of the call?
I know I do. If I am going on a certain trajectory and I learn something from the Bible, I often layer it on top of my current line of action, and keep chugging forward.
Not showing hospitality? Let me add that on to what I am doing.
Don’t gossip about others? Let me take steps to stop doing that.
Holding on to bitterness and denying forgiveness? Let me drop that as I go.
And yet, that is not the way the Bible talks about our walk with God. The Bible calls us again and again to stop and repent first. Then, we believe and take action. The word “repent” can also be understood to mean “return” or “turn”. If we are walking in one direction and we repent, or turn, what happens to that trajectory? Do we continue to move forward in the same manner? No. We make a clear and decisive shift in our direction.
In his book Building A Discipleship Culture, Mike Breen discusses the concept of a kairos moment. These are moments in time that shift the trajectory of our lives. They cause us to stop, reflect, assess, and change. When we don’t respond to these moments, we don’t change direction. His image is a clear depiction of how the act of belief should come with a clear alteration of the path of our life. If it doesn’t, then did we really hear and believe or did we merely layer another idea onto our existing foundation of worldview without checking for structural integrity?
In 1 Thessalonians 2: 9-10, Paul is writing to the church of Thessalonica and describing the report of faith that is echoing throughout the ancient world. He attributes the report to the way they welcomed the apostles (heard), turned to God from idols (repented), served God (changed), and waited for Jesus (believed). John Stott, in his commentary on 1 and 2 Thessalonians, points out that “the verb translated ‘turn’ (epistrepho) became an almost technical term for conversion, which is a turn from sin to Christ, from darkness to light.” There is an about-face. A clear, definitive shift. When we make the decision to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, who died in payment for our sins and conquered death to ascend into Heaven to live there with the Father until He comes again, there should be a clear, definitive shift. When we are convicted of sin, there should be a clear, definitive shift. When we gain new, Spirit-led perspective into an aspect of our life, there should be a clear, definitive shift. If we turn, we can’t keep going in the same direction as before.
Zechariah gives us a clear reminder of this. God tells the remnant who returned from exile in Babylon to “return” or “repent” 4 times in the first 6 verses of Zechariah 1. He wants them to change. He doesn’t want them to land back in the same spot their forefathers did. In Haggai, which was written in the same time period, the Lord tells them to “Consider your ways.” Both books are rampant with the theme, “Turn back to me!”
When the Lord speaks to you, are you changing your direction? Do you actually turn and believe, or do you just tuck the new awareness into your existing awareness? I can confess that my life often looks a little too straight. I am preparing my heart to be ready to pivot, to turn in the way that He directs me instead of plodding along on my same comfortable path. How about you?
Originally posted April 8, 2021
