Ruthless Repentance Brings Life
by Alisha Garza
Other than Star Wars, I’ve never really been into sci-fi. However, since living with the Oyola family, I’ve come to learn a lot about this genre. Did you guys know Jose loves science fiction films? If there are any more of you sci-fi nerds out there, go talk to Jose. He’s a pro. I decided it was time to put all my preconceived notions aside and watch the Alien anthology with them. I wasn’t ready for what I was about to encounter (in every sense of the word, ha!) but to my surprise, I actually liked it more than I thought. There’s one horrific scene in Alien Covenant that hasn’t left me... It’s brutal. Without giving too much away but in effort to provide a little context, the crew onboard The Covenant decides to follow a rogue transmission veering them from their main mission. Basically, they take a short-cut. They were curious, and they compromise. One small move that costs them big time. I’m sure you all know where this is heading... I won’t go into detail, but it gets ugly. One of the main characters, Daniels, realizes she’s been infected with one of these alien spores (they are microscopic, almost invisible) and it’s growing inside of her, fast. She realizes she needs to literally cut it out of her! In agonizing pain (it’s already killed several of her crew mates and she’s bloody from battle), she climbs onto the spaceship robotic surgery table, locks herself inside the glass tube and performs surgery on herself to get this alien out of her before it kills her. This character was frantically ruthless about this inferior thing growing inside of her. As I was watching this scene, it was like the Holy Spirit was on a loud speaker, we need to be that ruthless about sin. It was an obviously dramatic, gory analogy but a timely one. We need to be like that character, Daniels, who knew if she didn’t get this foreign infestation out of her body immediately, she would die. It was critical. Nothing else mattered in that moment. As the Holy Spirit shows us things hidden inside of our hearts and our lives, by any means necessary, let us be quick to offer ourselves up on the Great Physician’s table and allow him to cleanse us of it. It’s imperative. He’s not afraid of our mess and He’s really good at what He does. We might reason, it’s not a big deal, it’s a small thing, no one can see it, but guys, these small things, they can veer us off course real quick. And before you know it, there’s an alien inside of you trying to kill you. It’s that serious and we don’t have time to play games. Confession and repentance are powerful and necessary tools that rip us open in the best way and allow the Holy Spirit to bring us life again. When we repent, cleansing comes, and we are free. That freedom affects us personally for sure, but it also allows us to share that good news with others! Daniels lived another day, but she didn’t keep that to herself, she was able to warn and relay truth to others because of her experience.
I’ve been meditating on Isaiah 6, it’s a chapter I’ve read so many times, but I’ve been asking the Lord to give me new revelation. After Isaiah has his terrifying encounter with the Lord he shouts, “‘...It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips and said, ‘See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.’ Then I heard the Lord asking, ‘Who should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here I am, send me.’”
Cutting out sin from our lives is far from tidy, it’s a process, but it’s absolutely imperative. Confession, like that burning coal touching Isaiah’s lips, can be painful. But that pain, like childbirth, brings life. Repentance gives birth to new life and gives us the opportunity to share that life with others. If anything, this passage is a reminder that we are connected to a body and repentance has the power to impact more than just one limb. It effects are far-reaching. Then like Isaiah, we too can shout, “Here I am, send me!” Let’s stay the course, you guys. The cost of compromise is far too great. Jesus, we offer ourselves to you, purify us! Help us! Amen.
Other than Star Wars, I’ve never really been into sci-fi. However, since living with the Oyola family, I’ve come to learn a lot about this genre. Did you guys know Jose loves science fiction films? If there are any more of you sci-fi nerds out there, go talk to Jose. He’s a pro. I decided it was time to put all my preconceived notions aside and watch the Alien anthology with them. I wasn’t ready for what I was about to encounter (in every sense of the word, ha!) but to my surprise, I actually liked it more than I thought. There’s one horrific scene in Alien Covenant that hasn’t left me... It’s brutal. Without giving too much away but in effort to provide a little context, the crew onboard The Covenant decides to follow a rogue transmission veering them from their main mission. Basically, they take a short-cut. They were curious, and they compromise. One small move that costs them big time. I’m sure you all know where this is heading... I won’t go into detail, but it gets ugly. One of the main characters, Daniels, realizes she’s been infected with one of these alien spores (they are microscopic, almost invisible) and it’s growing inside of her, fast. She realizes she needs to literally cut it out of her! In agonizing pain (it’s already killed several of her crew mates and she’s bloody from battle), she climbs onto the spaceship robotic surgery table, locks herself inside the glass tube and performs surgery on herself to get this alien out of her before it kills her. This character was frantically ruthless about this inferior thing growing inside of her. As I was watching this scene, it was like the Holy Spirit was on a loud speaker, we need to be that ruthless about sin. It was an obviously dramatic, gory analogy but a timely one. We need to be like that character, Daniels, who knew if she didn’t get this foreign infestation out of her body immediately, she would die. It was critical. Nothing else mattered in that moment. As the Holy Spirit shows us things hidden inside of our hearts and our lives, by any means necessary, let us be quick to offer ourselves up on the Great Physician’s table and allow him to cleanse us of it. It’s imperative. He’s not afraid of our mess and He’s really good at what He does. We might reason, it’s not a big deal, it’s a small thing, no one can see it, but guys, these small things, they can veer us off course real quick. And before you know it, there’s an alien inside of you trying to kill you. It’s that serious and we don’t have time to play games. Confession and repentance are powerful and necessary tools that rip us open in the best way and allow the Holy Spirit to bring us life again. When we repent, cleansing comes, and we are free. That freedom affects us personally for sure, but it also allows us to share that good news with others! Daniels lived another day, but she didn’t keep that to herself, she was able to warn and relay truth to others because of her experience.
I’ve been meditating on Isaiah 6, it’s a chapter I’ve read so many times, but I’ve been asking the Lord to give me new revelation. After Isaiah has his terrifying encounter with the Lord he shouts, “‘...It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.’ Then one of the seraphim flew to me with a burning coal he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. He touched my lips and said, ‘See, this coal has touched your lips. Now your guilt is removed, and your sins are forgiven.’ Then I heard the Lord asking, ‘Who should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here I am, send me.’”
Cutting out sin from our lives is far from tidy, it’s a process, but it’s absolutely imperative. Confession, like that burning coal touching Isaiah’s lips, can be painful. But that pain, like childbirth, brings life. Repentance gives birth to new life and gives us the opportunity to share that life with others. If anything, this passage is a reminder that we are connected to a body and repentance has the power to impact more than just one limb. It effects are far-reaching. Then like Isaiah, we too can shout, “Here I am, send me!” Let’s stay the course, you guys. The cost of compromise is far too great. Jesus, we offer ourselves to you, purify us! Help us! Amen.