Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead. Acts 17:30-31
Upon the discovery that we have committed wrongdoing in our lives, we all come to cross-roads. At these cross-roads, our eternal destiny will be ultimately decided based on our attitude and actions toward the revelation of our true condition before the Almighty God. This truth is never more clearly stated than in the words of Jesus in Luke 13:1-5. Here the Lord clearly taught that regardless how good we might think ourselves to be, or how bad we might think the other guys to be, all humanity has only two choices, repent or perish. This statement is both humbling and encouraging.
It is humbling because it makes the “best of us” face the reality that our own goodness is powerless to save us. The reality is that “...all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). It is important that we note the tense of these verbs. The phrase “have sinned” denotes past action. Hence, all people who have lived long enough to learn right from wrong have transgressed the law in the past (1 John 3:4). It is this transgression of the law which puts us in need of cleansing from our sins (1 John 1:7-8). However, it does not end there as the phrase “and fall short of the glory of God” is a present tense verb denoting action that is presently taking place. Therefore, not only have all sinned, but all still are falling short of God's glory. We should note the word for sin simply means to miss the mark. Hence, if God has given us a mark for which to aim, it is sin to miss that mark. Thus, even after our initial conversion to Christ we continually need to repent.
This is where Jesus' words in Luke 13:5 are encouraging. As Paul told of his mission to the Gentiles before King Agrippa, he told how he had “...declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance” (Acts 26:20). The clear implication is that they were not found in good standing at the time of the message preached. The good news in all of Paul's account is the reason God sent him to fulfill this mission. Jesus told Paul he was to “...open their eyes, in order to turn them away from darkness to light and the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me” (Acts 26:18). The encouraging thing about these statements from our Lord is that built into the language is the reality that we can truly repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance thereby receiving forgiveness and an inheritance. The same is true of Luke 13:5. When Jesus said “...unless you repent you will all likewise perish” He implied that those who did repent would not perish.
Thankfully, the Lord has given us “all things that pertain to life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3) in the Scriptures, thereby enabling the man of God to be “complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Without a doubt God wants us all to be saved from our sins (1 Timothy 2:3-6). The only question any of us must answer is, will we turn to God or will we continue in sin? The answer to this question is the only one that will matter when all things are brought to completion on the last day. May we all choose wisely.