Friday, April 15, 2011

God Wants Us to Repent

“Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent.” Rev 3:19

Here is a little discussed secret of Christianity – what to do when you sin.  When you sin, the best thing you can do is admit your failure to God (He already knows about it) and turn away from your sin.  This is what it means to repent.  This is a principle tenet of staying close to God and remaining on His road for our lives. 

The two Greek words in the New Testament translated “repent” are metanoeō and metamellomai.  Together they create a great picture of what it means to repent.  Metanoeō means “to think differently or afterwards, reconsider.”1  Metamellomai means “to care afterwards, regret,2 feel remorse.3  Metanoeō “connotes a change of mind” while metamellomai “connotes a change of soul.”4  So we have in repentance a change of mind and a change of heart and emotion about our sin.  The basic idea is to turn about5, that is, to turn away from your sin and set a new direction.  So repentance involves our agreeing with God about our sin and turning away from our sin with a change of heart and mind.  The picture is one of abandonment, a leaving behind, setting a new course and moving away from the old thoughts and emotions that lead us to sin in the first place.

One of the best times to make a good decision is right after you have made a bad one—  after you sin.  Unfortunately, this is often a time when we are tempted to turn farther away from God, after all He is perfect and holy and we have just failed to keep His standard.  So what’s the answer?  It’s simple, but it’s not natural—turn to Him and repent.  Start following Him again.  The fastest way to get back on the right road with God after we sin, after we have failed Him, is to go to Him, agree with Him about your sin being wrong, confess it to Him, and ask Him for strength to start down the right road with Him again. 

Often when we fail, we want to somehow make ourselves better before we go back to God and ask Him for forgiveness.  This is equivalent to attempting to get more lost so we can get found.  When we get lost our goal is not to get more lost—it is to get found.  Our goal is to get back on the right road, not keep travelling further on the wrong road hoping it will turn into the right one.  There is only one road to our destination.  If we get off on a side road, we must turn around and go back to the right road.  But let’s be honest don’t we try, sometimes, to clean ourselves up before we return to God?  We try to be good in our own power for a while thinking this will make it “OK” for us to bring our failure, our sin, before Him.  This is our pride.  This is our sinful nature.  This is travelling further down the wrong road.  Listen, nothing will make it “OK” for you to bring your sin before God except the sacrifice He made for you on the cross.  He has already made provision for you to come to Him with your sin and confess it to Him.  He already knows about your sin.  You cannot hide anything from Him. 

So, if He already knows about your sin, and has already made provision for your sin to be forgiven, what should stop you from rushing to Him and getting forgiven right away?  Nothing should.  Not your bad feelings about what you have done.  Not your uncleanliness because you have sinned.  Nothing should keep you from Him when you sin.  The best thing you can do is go to Him, confess your sin, ask for His forgiveness and strength to move on. 

“Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?”  Romans 2:4 

Don’t spend hours, days, weeks, or even months travelling on the wrong road trying to get to the right one.  Turn around.  Repent.  Remember God’s kindness and patience. Humble yourself before God and He will exalt you.  When we repent, turn away from, our sin He forgives us and gives us His strength to start again. 

“Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity.  I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the Lord’— and you forgave the guilt of my sin.” Ps 32:5

“He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.”  Prov 28:13

“Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” Ps 103:2-5

“…‘they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’ declares the Lord. ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’” Jer 31:34

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.”  1 John 1:8-10

Oh Good and Patient God, help us in our times of failure to turn and run to you and not away from you.  Help us to go immediately to You our only real source of help.  Help us to change our minds and our hearts.  Help us get turned around and traveling on the right road again.  Help us to stay close to You.  Help us to repent.  Amen!

Footnotes
1 Strong’s and Thayer’s definitions from: Meyers, Rick. Vers. 9.0.3. Franklin, TN, 2010. Computer software.  <http://www.e-sword.net/>.
2 Meyers.
3 Douglas, J. D., ed. "Repentance." The New Bible Dictionary. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1962. 1017-018. Print.
4 Tenney, Merrill C. "Repentance." The Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 1967. 711-12. Print.
5Tenney, Merrill C., ed. "Repentance." The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. Vol. 5. Grand Rapids: Regency Reference Library, 1976. 62-64. Print.

References
All Scriptures not specified are quoted from Life in the Spirit Study Bible (NIV). Stamps, Donald C., and John Wesley Adams. Life in the Spirit Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003. Print.