Times of refreshing

Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord
- Acts 3:19

Rodney Dangerfield used to talk about what he would call “the heaviness.” The actor would say: “I wake up and the heaviness is right there waiting for me, the pressure has been with me since I was a kid.” We all have our own experiences with “the heaviness.” It drains and exhausts us, leaves us empty and tired, makes it hard for us to get up and get moving.

Right in the middle of Peter’s beautiful sermon in Acts 3, he drops this wonderful phrase that we’ve taken as our passage for today. And he shares the surprising cure for much of our experience of “the heaviness.”

When we’re grappling with fatigue and exhaustion, we long for “times of refreshing.” And we seek them out, don’t we? Netflix binges, long bike rides, vacations. We tweak and adjust our diets and schedules. We engage in psychotherapy and retail therapy. And all these make a difference. But sometimes we feel like there’s a corner that’s left uncovered, a space in us that won’t be refreshed through ordinary means.

What we do with that corner of our souls tells a lot about us. Some of us try harder to find refreshment. Others of us learn to accommodate the exhaustion in our souls. But Peter directs us to a different way of experiencing refreshment.

Repentance. This religious-sounding word literally means to turn away from a thought or behavioral pattern: to stop doing one thing and to start doing something else. “Repent, then, and turn to God,” Peter urges his hearers. When that happens, Peter says, “Our sins may be wiped out.” The weight of sin we carry exhausts us to the core. Only when it’s been lifted from us will we feel truly refreshed.

What’s been your experience of repentance? What do you need to turn away from so that you can turn to God, have your sins wiped out, and receive times of refreshing from the Lord?

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