Turns are usually the most interesting part of…anything that can turn. The turn in the plot while watching a movie or reading a good book. The turn in the road that brings new views and reveals the hidden. The turn of a race car tire when the flag waves, or the turn of the fins when a jet engine whines to life. We tune in to the turns.
In Scripture there are two very different words that both come with a root meaning of turn. One needs no effort at all, and the other required the death of the Son of God. To accomplish the first kind of turning, all we need to do is coast around the circumference of our own fallen desires. Whether it be ignorance of the knowledge of God (1 Cor 15:34), disobedience to biblical instruction (2 Thess 3:14), or reliance on human resources instead of God-given wisdom (1 Cor 6:5), following our natural inclinations will effortlessly lead us astray. Like a cart with a bent axle, we will turn always towards chaos, sin, and disorder. Interestingly, the Greek word for this kind of turning is where we get our English word entropy. The idea in science that everything in the universe eventually moves from order to disorder parallels closely the idea in Scripture that humans have hearts that inevitably do the same. In your Bible you won’t find this word translated as entropy, however. Instead, it is called something else – shame.
Entropy and shame share more than just etymology and tendencies to chaos. Both also share another quality. If left alone, they will destroy everything without fail – but they can be reversed when acted upon by a sufficient force.
The curse of sin is a turning to destruction so powerful that nothing under its sway could ever roll back the fatal results (Rom 3:10-18). Any hope of salvation, and glimmer of turning away from utter darkness, would have to come from elsewhere. As we look ahead to Palm Sunday this Sunday, and Easter the Sunday after that, we celebrate again that this help did indeed come, and it came from heaven itself. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus not only secured the judicial acquittal of the divine Judge, but it also opened up the gracious means by which those who are in Christ can turn back from their sinful entropy and turn towards righteousness.
In Scripture, this process of turning from sin and living unto righteousness is called repentance. It is the fruit of those who have escaped the black hole of sin by faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. It is the mark of those who have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit which wages war against our flesh and its former desires. It is the increasing testimony on the outside of the work God is doing on the inside in conforming us into the image of His Son. This progressive battle for Christlikeness in our lives, which we call sanctification, is the loving sacrifice of a life owed entirely to the grace of God.
An honorable way to celebrate Easter this year is a renewed desire to reject spiritual entropy and to walk by the power of the Holy Spirit in the path of repentance. Should we not long to see our lives be a witness to the excellencies of Him who gave Himself for us?
As it turns out, to call upon the name of Jesus Christ and yet desire anything less is a shame.