The Return预览

Repentance

Humans naturally wander from the path. We argue with the GPS and chart a “better way,” then complain when we sit in stopped traffic. We invent our own speed limits, then complain to the cop who pulls us over. When the consequences show just how far we’ve wandered, God garners our attention, and we are ripe for repentance.

Repentance is a total turnaround of a sinful, self-centered way within us. Repentance is a 180-degree turn in our heart and mind. A person is going one way, then realizes he is going the wrong direction and turns to the right direction. Repentance is a turning from sin. It is a change of thinking, a renewing of the mind, that produces a change of living. 

But repentance is not a one-time occurrence. It is a way of life. When we turn from our sin to the Savior, repentance becomes our forever navigator, so we will walk in reverent fear of the Lord.

Genuine repentance will produce a change in the way we live our everyday lives. The gospel writers record that man must “bear fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8, Luke 3:8). What God requires of us is a humble admission of the sins we’ve committed, the will of God we have violated, and for us to offer Him a willingness (action) to have a change of mind and heart, and to walk in the fruits that repentance brings, which are joy and freedom.

Talk It Over:

Grab a pen and paper and write three prayers to the Lord:

1. Lord, help me see times in my life when I have strayed from your directions, whether miles away or just blocks away from your plan. By your grace, don’t let me just remember times long ago but also ways in which my wandering continues.

2. Lord, I admit it: I act like I know better than you do. I confess my wanderings in the areas of __________, ________, and _________ as willful sin. By the blood of my Savior, I ask for your forgiveness right now.

3. Your Word calls on me to “produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). I know that the fruit of repentance doesn’t buy my forgiveness. Jesus’ blood already paid the price. But show me how my actions today, tomorrow, and the next day can demonstrate how you have turned me 180 degrees and put me on Your path.