...repent...

Jesus said, “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish” Luke 13:5.

Sometimes we repent of the same sin, time and time again.

In the New Testament, repentance includes recognition of sin, godly sorrow for that sin, and a commitment to change direction. Regret, grief, and remorse accompany repentance but are not evidence of it if there is no change in behavior.

In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for repentance is “to turn.” When one repents, you turn from your sinful way of life to head in the direction of obedience to God.

This means that repentance begins with the Holy Spirit’s conviction of wrongdoing. At that point, we become painfully aware of our sin against God and feel the guilt of it. But it doesn’t end there. Genuine repentance results in a change of mind, a change in our heart, our direction, our behavior and choices, and our attitude. Instead of tolerating that sin, we now hate it and turn to a life of obedience to almighty God.

Jesus and Paul called people to repentance, but John emphasized belief. The reason he wrote his gospel was “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name” John 20:31.

The writers of Scripture weren’t led by the Holy Spirit to use all possible words that refer to salvation each time they spoke of it. Faith, belief, and repentance all refer to conversion and can be used interchangeably. You could think of faith and repentance as two sides of the same coin of salvation. Both faith and repentance are required. Even though you may only see one mentioned in a particular passage, the other is also implied.

Genuine salvation always results in a changed life. That is what I invite you to do today, to make a change so that you do not continue to repeat the same sin time and time again. Ask the Holy Spirit to grace you with the desire to repent, to truly repent.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner.

From the Bible:

“Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out” Acts 3:19.

“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” Matthew 4:17.

“Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’” Acts 2:38.