The Gift of Repentance

“Let us beware of repentance without evidence” ~J.C. Ryle

If you are like me, you find repentance to be a wonderful thing but at the same time it’s a great reminder of our sad estate as fallen humans. I am always thankful for the gift of true Godly repentance but it’s the sins that lead to it that causes me to feel weak in my Christian walk sometimes.

There has been times when I have repented of one sin or another and it was left behind. God heard my plea, saw the state I was in and granted me the gift of repentance. There are other times when I repent of the same sin over and over. Time when i say to myself ” I cant believe i did that again” or “I slipped up again”. These times, and these sins seem to haunt me. I feel grieved by these occasions but I know this is evidence that my repentance wasn’t genuine. Maybe it was remorse but the evidence shows me it wasn’t real.

I believe we all face this problem from time to time. Sin will always be a thorn for the believer until we are fully united to God in Heaven. But although we may battle sin in our flesh, we should always desire to be free from it, and when we repent we should repent with the right intentions. Not just guilt for what we have done, not out of fear for some judgement, but we should have a heart for God, and our mind should realize it is God we sin against ultimately.

Repentance is directional. It is the changing of the mind, and redirection our lives back to God. Its so much deeper than feeling sad, remorse, shame and stopping what you are doing. It goes far beyond just turning from sin. You must turn to God. An atheist who is an alcoholic that abuses his family can feel remorse for his actions, regret for his life decisions, and leave the addiction behind for his life and family’s sake, but thats not repentance.

We must put everything into perspective when thinking about true repentance. We must have an understanding of sin and God’s word. Multiple times God calls people to repent and turn to or return to Him. We see the prophets of old calling the people to repent (Joel 2:12)” Even now—this is the LORD’s declaration—turn to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning. Tear your hearts, not just your clothes, and return to the LORD your God. For he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in faithful love, and he relents from sending disaster”. John the Baptist proclaimed in Matt 3 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus preached the same message in in Matt 4 “Repent for the kingdom gdom of heaven is at hand”. In Acts 3 Peter says “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away”.

Repentance is a necessary action that we must practice daily. We will always fail in some way or another and we must constantly repent and turn back to God. It’s easy to shift our focus on things of the world and we must repent and fix our sights back to the Creator.

When thinking about true repentance one needs to realize their own helpless state (Psalm 109:22) “For I am afflicted and needy, And my heart is wounded within me.” We must come before God ready to change the direction we are going, ready to change our mind and our thoughts about sin. We must learn to hate sin as God does and look to Him for guidance and truth. ?PSALMS 119:128) “Therefore I esteem right all Your precepts concerning everything,
I hate every false way.”

We will fail, we will repent, and we will fail again, but we must pray for repentance, not just trusting the feelings we have at the time. Knowing who God is and what He has done for us in Christ, we should trust in His mercies and look to Him. If our repentance comes by the way God has written, we will see evidence, when we don’t, then we should repent of our repentance. We dedicate our life to turning from sin to Christ, keeping our eyes on the cross and not the world, and living a life of continual repentance trusting that the LORD will always grant it and we will never take it for granted.

Dear God please always grant me true Godly repentance. Let me forsake anything that turns my sights from you. When my repentance isn’t genuine show me my error and guide me back to your path. Let me never take your love and mercies for granted. Let my entire being be dedicated to you and my life be a life of repentance until you call me from this place to eternity. Amen.