Skip to main content

The Gift of Repentance

We normally think of repentance only as an action taken by man. It certainly is that, but in Acts 5:31, Peter presents it as a gift from God. God gives us the opportunity to repent. He has created the favorable conditions to allow for this repentance to take place.

What repentance is not


Repentance is not merely remorse. Remorse is the distress that is felt from a sense of guilt. It is regret but nothing more. Judas felt remorse for his sin but he never repented.


Repentance is not doing penance for our sins in an attempt to “balance the books”.

What repentance is


Basically, repentance means to change our mind, or to change direction.


Repentance involves a radical change of mind about God. Instead of being indifferent toward Him or rebelling against Him, the person who repents understands His love.


Repentance involves a change of mind about self. Self is no longer on the throne. Man no longer thinks about how to gratify the desires of the flesh. Instead, God is seen as the Creator. Jesus becomes Lord in every area of our lives.


Repentance involves a change of mind about sin. Sin is no longer minimized. It is no longer rationalized or justified.



Repentance involves a change of mind about life. Life is to be lived for the glory of God rather than for selfish indulgence. We live to tell God’s story rather than to tell our story with God’s resources.

What repentance will bring


Repentance will bring forgiveness. Repentance and forgiveness go hand in hand. (Acts 5:31) It doesn’t matter what your background is, if you will repent of your sin, God will forgive you.


Repentance will bring joy. Sin brings pleasure—but only for a moment. But repentance and forgiveness bring joy. There is joy for the person who repents and there is joy in heaven. (Luke 15:7)


Repentance brings change. The life of a person who has repented will not be the same. He will be a new creation.


Take advantage today of God's gift of repentance.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Day Our World Changed

November 13, 1989. 11:30 AM I had just finished my lunch in the teacher's workroom and was walking back to my classroom. I was teaching at San Jacinto Elementary in San Angelo, Texas at the time. Up until then, it had been a typical November day. As I walked past the school office, the door swung open, and a fellow teacher stepped out with a look of concern on her face. She spoke directly to me and said, “Your wife’s on the phone, and it sounds serious.” I ran into the office, took the phone, and heard my wife say, “I don’t know what happened, but your brother is on life support in a hospital in Austin.”  Twelve hours later, my father and I were sharing a room in a hotel on I-35 in Austin. My sister-in-law, Sandy, and her six-year-old daughter, Araceli, were in a room across the hall. I hardly slept that night. I would doze off and suddenly wake up to my father crying and calling out my brother’s name.  My brother was dead. Osiel had collapsed that morning while his h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Try not to laugh too hard

So we finally gave in and bought a Wii. It turns out that it's a lot of fun. Unfortunately, my kids were having fun at my expense. I was trying out the boxing and had no idea Bethany was video taping me. The jerky movement at the end of the clip is Bethany shaking because she was laughing so hard.
6 comments
Read more

Happy Anniversary!

Today is the one-year anniversary of the beginning of this blog. I started blogging on June 9, 2007 with this post . One year later, I'm still enjoying blogging about what's going on at Solid Rock Church, and linking to other interesting blogs and articles, as well as blogging about some of my thoughts and reflections related to Solid Rock and the church world in general. I know I have a few readers out there, so as long as there are three of you reading this blog, I guess I'll keep it going. And remember, comments are always welcomed!
5 comments
Read more