Devotional: Contrition, Part 2

Contrition, Part 2

I'd like to continue with a previous thought concerning contrition. Contrition was defined as "broken." Biblically, contrition means to be broken over your sin. We saw in Psalm 34:18, "The Lord is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit." David said, in repentance over his sin, "For you do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart -- These, O God, You will not despise" (Psalm 51:16-17). It is the same picture of repentance found in Luke, chapter 7, with the sinful woman who was forgiven by Jesus: "A certain immoral woman heard (Jesus) was there and brought a beautiful jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair" (Luke 7:37-38).

So, contrition is a means of grace, or an act of worship, in which we humble ourselves before the Lord in remorse for our sin and gratefulness for our Savior. But did you know that your enemy, the devil, will take this truth which brings us into right-standing with God and pervert it? Of course, you do know that because you have been taught that he is the father of lies and the accuser of the brethren! But, sometimes it really astounds me just how low he will go!

What am I talking about? Well, in Acts 13:9-10, we see an account in which Paul addressed a sorcerer that paints a perfect picture of Satan's character. It says, "Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said, 'O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord?'" Paul called him a son of the devil insinuating he was acting just like his "father" the devil! Therefore, we can conclude (without doubt) that the devil is an enemy of all righteousness. And in our study regarding repentance and contrition, we learned that Zion (God's people) shall be redeemed with justice, and her penitents with righteousness (Isaiah 1:27). In other words, when we are remorseful and broken over our sin, God rewards us with righteousness (right-standing with Him; the ability to stand before Him without guilt or inferiority as if we had never sinned).

BUT... the devil (that liar!) will take that same remorse and use it against the believer through GUILT AND CONDEMNATION! That's what he did to me. When I learned the truth (the straight ways of the Lord) I was broken over my sin, repented and asked Jesus to come into my heart and save me. And in God's mercy, He did just that! Praise God! But then the devil, who is full of all deceit and all fraud... and an enemy of all righteousness...did not cease to pervert the straight ways of the Lord! He used that same remorse and held me under a cloud of condemnation. Remember how Paul described it? He said, "Sin used what was good to bring about my condemnation. So we can see how terrible sin really is. It uses God's good commandment for its own evil purposes" (Romans 7:13b, NLT).

My point is, the devil is the author of sin and an enemy of righteousness. Contrition, or godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, or righteousness. So the devil's scheme is to take that contrition and use it against the believer by accusing them constantly, reminding them of their sin and leaving them feeling guilty and inferior. In other words, he can't take their right-standing away from them, but he can take their KNOWLEDGE of their right-standing away from them! If the believer has repented and received righteousness, they have right-standing with God as if they had never sinned. BUT if they don't know that is how God sees them, then the devil can have a hay-day with their "CONTRITION" (their remorse over their sin)! Can you see how vile and ugly he really is?!

Thankfully, God has written it clearly in His Word for us so that we are not ignorant of Satan's devices. The new believer has this promise: "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Romans 10:9-10). We all received righteousness (right-standing with God) the moment we confessed Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We are not working towards it, it is ours! But because we all stumble along the way, God provided us with another promise: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (I John 1:9). If we've been forgiven of all "UN" righteousness, what is left? Righteousness. So we see that either way, in the eyes of God, we are righteous and acceptable before Him.

Contrition plays a vital role in receiving righteousness. But don't let the devil use contrition against you! Remember the words of Jesus when He spoke to the woman who dried His feet with her tears: "Your sins are forgiven" (Luke 7:48).