I Almost Made Someone Viral

We waited half an hour to get out of our parking slot because some lazy driver decided to double park in front of our car and do his grocery errands.

An admin officer came and took photos of the vehicle. The mall PA system kept announcing the guy's plate number. Guards were on their radios.

When the driver arrived, he quickly opened his trunk, loaded his groceries, and just said, “Sorry, pasensya na.”

Adding a little remorse and an excuse would have made it less insincere, I thought to myself.

Later, as we were driving out of the parking lot, I told my wife, “He had his sorry card ready even before he parked his car.”

And that experience left a question worth asking-

Can repentance be real if it was planned along with the sin?

Driving along with that thought, I realized I wasn’t far from that driver. I also parked in the wrong places most of my life. And I carry my own sorry card- I call it God’s mercy.

And I was a huge mercy abuser.

And I had a twisted view of sin. It’s like poison disguised as pleasure that I secretly let in. A poison that slowly wrecked me from the inside.

Until God pulled me over and showed me that true repentance is more than an apology we get to say. It involves a deep sense of conviction that I did something wrong. It means a complete radical change of mind, heart, and will.

True repentance turns a mercy abuser into a steward of grace.

Btw, the word viral comes from a Latin word that means poison. Crazy if you think about it.

The week is still long. Drive safe everyone!

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But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. - Romans 6:17-18 ESV