Repentance: Turning to God
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Alongside faith, the Bible speaks of repentance. The first words of Jesus's public preaching were: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel" (Mark 1:15).
What Repentance Is
The Greek word means "a change of mind," and in the Bible it always involves a change of direction. It includes:
- Recognizing that sin is real and that it offends God.
- Sorrow that is aimed at God and not only at the consequences: "For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death" (2 Corinthians 7:10).
- Turning: "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon" (Isaiah 55:7).
Repentance is not perfection. It does not mean that you must clean up your life before coming to Christ, as if you had to be healthy to see the doctor. It means that you stop defending yourself and begin to turn toward Him. Repentance and faith are two sides of one turning: away from self, toward God.
Why It Matters
Jesus said, "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3). Peter preached, "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19). And Paul told the Athenians that God "now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:30).
Two Pictures of Repentance
Jesus told of a son who demanded his inheritance, wasted it, and ended up feeding pigs. "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee" (Luke 15:18). The story continues: "But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him" (Luke 15:20). That is how God receives the one who returns.
In another story, a tax collector stood at a distance in the temple and prayed with no excuses: "God be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13). Jesus said that this man went home justified. Honest, humble words, spoken to the God who sees the heart, are all that is needed.
Promised Forgiveness
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9). "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us" (Psalm 103:12). "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" (Isaiah 1:18).
CHAPTER 7