One month as a Christian and Russell Brand already has a better grasp on repentance, sanctification, and humility than many lifelong Christians.
It changes you to accept that it's not like you're in a gameshow and by doing really, really good things you can get redeemed. No, repentance, to REPENT means that you have to continually change and acknowledge that I am in a battle against myself. That I need to surrender myself to an ever present, internal, and accessible Jesus. That mercy is something that's given to me, been granted to me, that I live with through love, not something that I can sort of win or achieve by doing good deeds.
Repentance. Sanctification. Mercy. Listening to the voice of God.
When I'm in doubt, I feel that instruction is there, accessible. I feel like I know what I'm supposed to do. And when I don't do what I'm supposed to do that's even clearer. When I feel myself being selfish or inconsiderate, or putting myself first, or not thinking about how I can be better to other people, it's as if there is an inner illumination available to me now.
Clearly, Russell is actively repenting of his previously selfish and self-serving ways. And if you know anything about his past with addiction and celebrity, it would seem likely that those are some of his biggest hangups.
I love the simplicity of the idea of God come to earth, as a man, to experience what it is to be human and to sacrifice himself because that's the only sacrifice that could bring us home, that could give us the opportunity of redemption.
That's the Gospel, ain't it?
I like the idea, when I'm in prayer and in communion, just alone, that there is a figure available, wounded and coronated, available to me. In my failings, and in my failures, and in my fallibility there is strength.
This part gets me. It's such a deep understanding of sanctification without using the church-y words to describe it.
To be broken. Not just broken by life in the sense of, 'life is wearing and exhausting' but to be broken in the same way that you have to train an animal to behave itself. To be broken into better conduct. It's a beautiful journey to go on.
As he acknowledges, he's only at the beginning. Life is a long journey. Sanctification is a long process and lots of seed falls among thorns.
But there's something incredibly encouraging about Brand's honesty and vulnerability here. Lots of people recognize it.
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Keep praying for the man!
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