“The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”
2 Peter 3:9

Sometimes the problem isn't that we need more room.

Sometimes we need to get rid of what's already taking up the room.

While preparing this week, I kept coming back to one phrase in 2 Peter 3:9: “come to repentance.”

Peter has spent this letter warning believers. False teachers will come. People will mock the return of Christ. Judgment is real. The Day of the Lord is coming.

But God has not delayed because He has forgotten His promise.

His patience is grace.

Every day before judgment is another day when the Gospel can be preached, another day when someone can come to Christ, another day when we can grow in His grace and knowledge.

And another day when we can repent.

That word brought something to my mind that happened with my son, Zeke.

Zeke loves baseball equipment. Gloves, catcher's gear, batting gear, whatever he can fit into a baseball bag, he wants it in there.

One day he had a new glove and told me it wouldn't fit in his bag.

I couldn't understand it. He carries two bags. Surely there was room for one more glove.

Then we opened the bag.

We started pulling things out. A batting helmet. Catcher's helmet. Catcher's mitt. Another mitt. First baseman's mitt. Batting gloves. Sliding mitt.

And then we found the problem.

Down in the bottom of the bag were about twenty empty plastic water bottles and Gatorade bottles.

The bag wasn't too small.

It was full of things he didn't need.

So I told him, “Let's throw these away, and I'll bet we can find room for the glove.”

And the Lord brought that thought back to me:

When we take the things out that we don't need, we'll have room for the things that we do need.

How much of our spiritual life looks exactly like that baseball bag?

We carry hurt.

Bitterness.

Old habits.

Old memories.

Old sins.

Things that keep our hands busy and our hearts crowded.

Then Christ calls us to repentance, and somehow we tell Him there isn't any room.

Maybe the problem isn't that there isn't room.

Maybe we're still carrying things that should have been thrown away a long time ago.

Repentance is more than saying, “I'm sorry.”

Repentance turns.

And you cannot turn toward Christ while desperately holding onto everything that keeps pulling you in the other direction.

Sometimes we have to let go.

The hurt of yesterday is in yesterday.

Let it go.

Bitterness will hold you far too long. Forgive.

Sometimes reminders of old days can become killers of new days. If something continually pulls your heart back toward a life Christ has called you out of, maybe it doesn't belong in the bag anymore.

Jesus' blood is strong enough to cleanse every sin.

So if something remains between us and the freedom Christ offers, we have to ask a difficult question:

Is His blood not strong enough, or are my hands simply unwilling to let go?

I know where I'm putting my confidence.

His blood is strong enough.

Peter tells us to remember the truth. Stay founded in God's Word. Grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. And while God continues to give us time, make room for repentance.

Don't carry around twenty empty bottles and complain that there's no room for what matters.

Clean out the bag.

Open your hands.

Turn toward Jesus.

Consider This

What are you carrying today that you no longer need?

Is there bitterness you need to release?

A habit you need to surrender?

Something from your past that continually pulls your attention away from Christ?

And perhaps the biggest question:

Is there room in your heart for repentance?

God's patience is not permission to stay where we are.

His patience is an opportunity to turn while there is still time.