What Is True Repentance and Why People Don’t
When considering the question of what is true repentance most Christians identify first with carrying the guilt of their actions. This is where people run into trouble. Sometimes it takes a while to actually ask God for forgiveness.
Eventually, you realize it’s better to lay out everything before God. He wants you to confess sin because carrying it around stops up your spiritual reservoir. Every time you admit sin quickly, you fast track your relationship with God.
What Christian devoted to God doesn’t want that to happen?
What Is True Repentance: The Definition
A quick definition of repentance is when you feel sincere remorse about wrongdoing and want to get it off your chest to restore fellowship with God. In a perfect world, honesty should be easy. But humans drag their feet. Your helper, The Holy Spirit, gives you gentle nudges about sinning such as thoughts of ill will toward someone or hurtful words said in haste.
When you have a repentant heart, you run from evil as fast as possible. The reason? You know your actions don’t please God and . . .
He doesn’t fellowship with anyone who dances with evil.
You feel at ease in the presence of a Holy God who exemplifies all things good.
Even though Jesus covered your sin with His death, bad behavior leads to feelings of remorse and spiritual stagnation.
So, by knowing what is true repentance, how do you repent?
Sin is big no matter how you look at it, especially when you’ve messed up with God for the umpteenth time. There aren’t specific steps to repentance but one thing is necessary: a penitent heart.
Paul’s teaching in 2 Corinthians 7:10-13 indicates acknowledging Godly sorrow leads to repentance and happiness. (The Message translation):
“And now, isn’t it wonderful all the ways in which this distress has goaded you closer to God? You’re more alive, more concerned, more sensitive, more reverent, more human, more passionate, more responsible. Looked at from any angle, you’ve come out of this with purity of heart.
And that is what I was hoping for in the first place when I wrote the letter. My primary concern was not for the one who did the wrong or even the one wronged, but for you—that you would realize and act upon the deep, deep ties between us before God. That’s what happened—and we felt just great.”
What Is True Repentance and Why People Don’t?
Sweeping dirt under a rug is how some people clean their houses. You and I do the same thing when we dismiss sin from our minds so it’s out of sight. That doesn’t work. We carry it around with a nagging feeling that something isn’t up to snuff in our spiritual houses.
What’s the solution?
Obey inner promptings to take care of business with God promptly in a posture of obedience and reverence. Clean your spiritual house at the first sight of dirt and you’ll replace a sorrowful attitude with joy.
Have you ever watched children display feelings of guilt when breaking a window or other object? When parents discover the breakage, a child’s inclination is to please their parents. A wise parent extends mercy quickly and uses wisdom in correcting the child. Once children see parents forgive them, they feel loved and go back to playing.
That’s exactly how God wants you to come to Him. Confess the sin, receive God’s pardon, release any guilt, and go about your tasks joyfully. The longer you and I bemoan our sins, stay angry for messing up, and rehearse the event, we prolong coming to a loving Father who restores faith.
What else should Christians learn when asking what is true repentance?
What Is True Repentance: How Do You Repent?
The number one priority on my list is that satan (yep, I don’t capitalize his name) stays in his cesspool of evil far away from me. He’s the instigator of trouble and the teller of lies. He brings destruction and loves seeing us sorrowful, fearful, and weighed down by life. When you repent quickly, you keep him locked out of your spiritual house.
How do you know if you have truly repented?
You have a posture and gait that’s determined when you free your soul from sin. Getting dirt into the open cleanses filth from the inside to free you from oppression. For example, pigs love squalor. Rather than stand knee-deep in mud (sin), you and I can run to God quickly. We say goodbye to tears and inward groanings that keep us bound and powerless.
Fling your entire being into the hands of God who is capable of removing remorse and guilt. Otherwise, a heart full of unconfessed sin leads to grief and ushers in all kinds of spiritual malady. Any sin you harbor drives a stake between you and God. Repentance keeps you in God’s presence. You stay connected to the greatest counselor you’ll ever have to confront problems you continue to encounter.
Christians enjoy the fruit of salvation and are sorry when they sin. See 2 Corinthians 5:17 which explains how a believer becomes a totally different person and people notice. After conversion, Christians reflect on attitudes and behavior and are free from an evil conscience as described in Hebrews 10:22.
Final Thoughts about Repenting as a Christian
Learning how to repent as a Christian is readily available the same as salvation is free to anyone that accepts Jesus as Lord. I’m too grateful for God’s mercy to not repent. Christians cultivate the presence of a repentant heart. They are penitent when they step across the line of righteousness and don’t live a life pleasing to God.
Does that mean God holds a big stick to knock you over the head? Hardly. The foundational principle that separates you as a Christian from others is your allegiance to the God of the universe. Your Creator is extremely kind, gentle, and loving. You can come to Him, repent, and start fresh.