Repent
“If My people who are called by my name will humble
themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from
their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and
forgive their sin and heal their land.”
2 Chronicles 7:14
What does repent mean? Repent is to feel bad enough about our behavior to want to change it. The Spirit of God convicts us and we acknowledge our true nature. We accept that in and of ourselves we can do no good thing. Meaning, if you are in a fornicating relationship, you stop it. You do not try to justify it, you give it up. All those who are living together move out and get their own places, until marriage. There are people who are going to read this and know that God has been convicting them deep in their spirits about this very thing. Because of your selfish desires you have ignored it. How can you claim to represent the Living God and be living like this and expecting God to bless this union. The scriptures say that you are crucifying Christ all over again and putting Him to shame.[1] Christ has already died for you, so that you may overcome this and every other sin. It is not anything that you have earned it is something you accept. It is already done; either you accept it or you do not. It is like the teaching Christ gave to the young rich man. He told him to sell all that he had period. He did not try to coax him or convince him, He simply stated it and allowed him to choose.[2] So it is with us the Spirit simply convicts us and then it is up to us to choose.
True repentance comes when the damage to our relationship to God bothers us more than the damage to our relationship to men. Make no mistake sin damages my relationship with God. It puts a cloud between God and me. I can be of no value to God if I am living in sin. Many Christians today believe that they can be unfaithful to God in some areas of their lives and faithful in others. As if obeying God is something you can negotiate. The scriptures say “I desire faithfulness, not sacrifice, says the LORD”.[3] We have this foolish belief that because God needs us or loves us that we can do whatever we want and He still has to use and keep us. This thinking fails to understand that it is not our efforts that accomplishes anything. Consider all the great efforts of man to end hunger in the world or poverty. How are those great plans working out? It is God who does the accomplishing.
We miss true repentance when all we become is remorseful for being caught or for having made stupid mistakes and feeling disgusted. There is a point in everyones life sinner or saint when we realize that we do not do sin, but that we are sin. That we are born into a sinful nature and it is only the redemptive work of Christ that allows us to stand before our Creator. None of our efforts produce redemption, not even being sorry for our actions. We should get over our proper goodness and see ourselves as God sees us. When that state is reached you will want to be the opposite of what you were, but again by the grace of God.
“Come now let us reason together, “says the LORD, though your
sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they
are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing
and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land.”
Isaiah 1:18
As the scripture says, God would like nothing better than to forgive us our sins and to renew His fellowship relationship with us. All He ask is that we acknowledge, confess, repent, and become willing to obey His Word. This deadly spiral that we are on can only be broken by the power of God. Only by the Spirit of God is sin overcome, we are not able to resist without help. This sin is so ingrained now in our culture and daily lives that only by the power of God will it end. So entrenched is the sin of fornication in our culture that we no longer even think twice when we hear of people living together without the benefit of marriage or when we see young unwed women with multiple children from different men. It has become commonplace in our community and there are few voices decrying this situation. Only God can forgive sin and renew our covenant relationship with Him. The Bible says, “that all of our righteousness is as filthy rags to God”.[4][5] We of ourselves cannot save ourselves, therefore all of our trust and faith must be in Christ. As Job stated, “I know that my redeemer lives and that in the end, He will stand on the earth.”
Repentance is the cornerstone of the Christian faith. Throughout the teachings of Christ, the message was and to this day continues to be repent and receive the
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