Have you ever thought much about repentance – what it means, why, and how? Do you know the motivation for your, I’m sorry? Why say it if there’s no remorse or the intention of not repeating the behavior/words necessitating forgiveness and hoped for restoration? When you know without a doubt that you did/said wrong/hurtful, what do you do about this situation?
Repentance: (Webster) “…the action or process of repenting especially for misdeeds or moral shortcomings”. Repent is defined: to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life, to feel regret or contrition. to change one’s mind“. The point I’m making is that repent/repentance is an action. One doesn’t just ‘think’ without acting on what caused the issue.
The Bible Study Tools website states:
“The most common translation of “repent” is “turn” or “return”. Two
requisites of repentance included in sub are “to turn from evil, and
to turn to the good.” Most critical theologically is the idea of returning
to God, or turning away from evil.”
“Confession of sins is both commanded and frequently illustrated. When
one is guilty of various sins, “he must confess in what way he has sinned”
in order to receive atonement and forgiveness. Thus, confession belongs
to repentance, and is needed for divine forgiveness.”
Too often we allow our own embarrassment to hamper our action to correct the situation. This only exasperates the situation and restoration is not achieved. This state is quite untenable. Why do we find it so difficult to acknowledge, confess, and receive forgiveness so we can move on? Many reasons but none with reason.
Matthew 3:8 gives us a charge: “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” This should always be the focus – making a change and producing fruit that demonstrates the change. In my world, words are incredibly important which is the basis for when we use words to repent of our misdeeds, then we are required to produce a change that is demonstrable.
