What makes the Heaven rejoice

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent" Luke 15:4-7.

Pharisees who considered themselves just and righteous people scorned Jesus as a lot of tax collectors, and sinners came to Him. Jesus responded by giving three parables: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. All of them dealt with repentance and with the fact that the entire Heaven rejoices when one sinner repents.  

If you read carefully the parables you will see that God is really interested in bringing back the lost to His kingdom. He is the one who initiates the search for the lost sheep, or coin. He finds them, and brings them home, and then makes a great celebration over the fact that He found them. You should clearly see from those parables that it is not us who find God, but He who finds us lost in our sins. Some people say "I found God". Well, who was lost, you or God? Who is the sheep and who is the shepherd? We were lost, and He found us. We consented to His love, did not resist Him to bring us to our heavenly home. And that can be called a real repentance. 

People think that repentance has to do a lot with remorse of your conscience, beating of your chest and swearing not to do the bad things you have done before. Well, looks like that is not the real repentance. It is His goodness that melts our hearts and causes us to see that we were wrong. It is His love working in us that causes us to change our minds. And that change initiated by God Himself is a real repentance. Allow yourself to be found, give in to His love, let His grace change you and you will lose taste for the worldly things. His unmerited favor causes us to admit our faults and change (repent). He found us. The Heaven is rejoicing. We can rejoice too. 

Faith is based on the Power of God

“…that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God…” 1 Corinthians 2:5. 

There is a lot of logic to our faith. Even scientists confirm existence of God. However, faith should not only rest in our minds, but it must also rest in our hearts. It has to be accepted sincerely with repentance and conversion experience. A mere logical agreement that Jesus is God is not enough. We must turn our hearts to God with all of our minds, hearts and everything that is in us. That is well beyond intellectual yes to the message of salvation. 

See also: Bible verses about faith

God instructs sinners in his ways

Psalm 25:8: “Good and upright is the Lord; therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.”

God is very patient and very good. He does not leave a sinner to die in his sins. The Lord waits patiently for him to repent and turn away from his old sinful ways. The Holy Spirit comes to a person to reveal the goodness of God. This revelation softens his heart and leads him to repentance. This is the marvel of the gospel. Not judgment of God, but His mercy causes us to repent and reject our old ways. Praise God for his everlasting mercy.