A False Repentance

It is the 8th plague and Pharoah has seen much and suffered much from the hand of the Lord. So he comes to Moses and declares, "I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. Now therefore, forgive my sin, please, only this once, and plead with the Lord your God only to remove this death from me."
Wow! Have we just experienced the repentance of the King of Egypt? Has he really turned from his evil way to seek the Lord? Well, I know you know the rest of the story. In just 3 short verses from his repentance the text (vs. 20) says that Pharaoh hardened his heart and did not let the people go. Whatever Pharoah did, it was not repentance. In fact, Pharoah did what so many of us do - we feign repentance only to minimize our suffering. We go through the motions hoping our punishment will be reduced, but in reality we have no intentions of changing our way.
It was a genuine repentance that Jesus found lacking in his people, especially the religious rulers. Though they had a veneer of religion their hearts had not really been turned to the Lord. To illustrate this Jesus told the parable of the barren fig tree. Year after year the owner of a fig tree come to his tree seeking fruit, but each year he found none. Finally, after having sought long enough without fruit, he commands that the tree be cut down. Someone intervenes and wins for the tree one more year, but if it again does not produce fruit, it would be cut down.
I think it was John the Baptist who we saw earlier call for the fruit of repentance. If repentance is true, if it is not offered just to minimize one's suffering, but comes from a changed heart, then fruit will accompany it. And what will the nature of that fruit be?
I could offer much on that but I will take cues from today's reading and mention two things that will accompany true repentance. One involves our relationship with God; the other our relationship with man.
1. The first is the fear of the Lord. A big part of Pharaoh's problem was that he refused to humble himself before the Lord (Ex 10:3). He was king of Egypt and he wanted to remain so. He did not acknowledge the Lord for who He was. A true repentance, one that is not just seeking alleviation of suffering, is one that gives God His rightful place. It is one that takes self off the throne and enthrones Jesus as Lord of life - and that is central to the fear of the Lord. This was obviously lacking in the life of Pharoah to the end of his days. It must not be lacking in our life if our repentance will be judged as fruitful.
2. Secondly, a true repentance will result in my pursuing loving ends for others. When I read 1 Corinthians 14 I get the clear sense that Paul is passionate about one thing. He is not pursuing selfish pursuits, but instead is pursuing the building up of the church. He wants to see others grow to know the Lord and His ways. True repentance will always turn a man away from himself and his selfish pursuits, and will fix his desire on seeing others built up, encouraged, and consoled (1 Cor 14:3).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, our Lord desires a true repentance - one that results in fruit. As he inspects the fruit on your tree is He finding a growing "fear of the Lord" and "love for others". Renew again your repentance to the Lord this day, and ask Him for His grace to produce fruit in keeping with repentance.