“I’m sorry; I’m sorry!” yells the bully who has been caught in the act.
Rrrright… he isn’t sorry one little bit. He is just trying to escape punishment. If we believe him and let him go, the first chance he gets he’ll take it out on the kid he bullied.
The whining bully is not repentant. His apologies are insincere — try that with God!
Repentance is a word and a concept that is often misunderstood. Too many think that it means to be sorry and to feel bad about having done wrong.
This is far from the truth.
Repentance is a turning of the mind, a change of heart, and a change of actions. God wants us to turn to Him. This means repentance of our former ways.
For some, that is a big change in life; for others, not so much. But the point is that we recognize our nature as sinful — i.e. imperfect — and ask Jesus to forgive us and enter our hearts.
More than feeling sorry
Repentance before God requires a sincere change of mind. “I’m sorry” must be real. It must be a complete understanding of your sins and a true turnaround.
What does the Bible say about repentance?
- Repent in the New Testament comes from the Greek “metanoein” meaning to change one’s mind. This is a change in thinking; it is internal.
- Repent in the Old Testament means to turn back, or return. It involves a physical change or action; it is external.
Combine the two and we have God’s complete picture of His meaning of repentance. It starts in the heart (mind/thinking) and manifests as action. First we change inside, and then our behavior outside follows suit.
Thus, repentance is not merely feeling bad about having done wrong, but is a visible change in one’s life.
What repentance looks like
The classic example of repentance is the story of the Prodigal Son which can be read in Luke 15:11-32.
Here are the main ideas to get.
- The younger son represents us
- His actions – a real foul-up –represent our need to repent.
- The father in the story represents our Heavenly Father — God.
- The son truly saw his sorry plight as he worked in the pigpen. He realized deep inside that he was wrong. This shows his inward change.
- He returned home and confessed his sins to his father. That is his outward change.
- The father totally restores his son to his place, illustrating the unconditional love our Heavenly Father has for us.
If you want to go to Heaven, all you have to do is live a perfect life with no mistakes from conception to death. Uh, no. That never works. (See Romans 3:23 – All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God) But all is not lost. You can still go to Heaven. When you repent in the true sense of the concept and ask Jesus into your heart, He will say yes. He forgives all sins and you become as perfect in His eyes. On your own, you can be pretty good by man’s standards, but never as perfect as God. Therefore — no Heaven for you. With Jesus in your heart, you are welcome in Heaven and will enjoy eternity in paradise with Jesus.
God’s kindness when we repent
There are scriptures which further testify to God’s heart and acceptance when we repent.
- Romans 2:4: “God’s kindness is intended to turn you from your sin.” (NLT)
- 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, He (God) is faithful to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all wickedness.”
- Confession is part of the process of true repentance and God will respond positively.
- 2 Corinthians 7:8-10: God, too, is sorry to see us in a sinful state. That helps us to be truly repentant and that in turn leads to salvation.
- God makes it safe to come to Him; true repentance guarantees His acceptance
- Being sorry in a worldly way leads to death and eternal separation from God.
- (See Proverbs 14:12: There is a path … that seems right, but ends in death.)
Now let us deal with a mistake most people with no religious affiliation and even many organized religions make: trying to earn your way to God.
Can we earn our way to God?
No. The term for that is Dead Works.
Dead works are any action meant to please God or gain His acceptance, but which is done apart from the direction of God.
Have you ever tried to please God by:
- Giving money to a charity, including a church
- Helping the needy
- Trying to live a good and moral life
- Showing up in church and participating in service and activities
These activities are all good in themselves. But they are only our own efforts to please God, and that won’t cut the mustard. See Isaiah 64:6: “When we display our righteous deeds they are nothing but filthy rags.”
Our best intentions and best efforts to please God on our own all come to nothing.
People seeking Heaven often improve their lives so they do far more good than bad. They hope this is enough to please God so He will accept them into Heaven. But what does God tell us in scripture?
- God is absolutely perfect. No flaws, no mistakes, not even a slip on the ice. He is so perfect, human minds cannot conceive how perfect.
- It follows that Heaven is perfect as well, as it is God’s home and He created it.
- If God were to allow a person who is “good enough” to enter Heaven, then Heaven itself would become “good enough”. And that can never happen. Not on God’s eternal watch.
- So if you want to go to Heaven, you have to be as good as God. The only way to do that is by repentance of sin and acceptance of His gift of salvation through Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross.
The only way to God
Good News: Since we cannot reach God by our own efforts, He reached out to us with a clear path to connect forever. Here is the way:
Ephesians 2:8-10:
- We are saved through faith and not by our works
- We cannot earn salvation; it is a gift from God
- We receive the gift merely by asking with true humble faith
Repentance from dead works – as from sin – is a turning or change of mind from actions performed apart from God.
When you ask God for direction, you give permission to God to guide you into His will. And that makes all the difference.
