From reading about repentance in the bible, I always assumed the meaning was something along the lines of returning to God. In order to gain a deeper understanding of the word and the intended meaning, I looked it up. The King James Dictionary defines repent as: “To Change One’s Mind & Purpose; Regret”. From this definition, we can assume that to repent is to have a change of attitude about your behavior because it has caused you to feel remorseful or disappointed. In order to repent, we need an awareness of our behavior because how can we repent for something that we don’t see anything wrong with? Jesus came with the truth and the moral standard by which we are called to live our lives.
We learn the truth through scripture and by the Holy Spirit.
The lesson of the prodigal son is one of my favorite examples of repentance in the bible. If you’re not familiar, Jesus teaches this lesson as a parable to his disciples. In it, he mentions a man with two sons who grants his younger son’s request of giving him a portion of his inheritance. When the younger son takes possession of the inheritance, he squanders it on partying and living wild. After the younger son has spent everything he had, a famine came on the land and he became in need. The younger son decides to hire himself out as a field worker feeding pigs. Working in the field is where the younger son comes to his senses and decides to return home to his father.
The younger son went back to the father because he knew he had what he needed. Sometimes we seek out other people, ways of life, and things to fill in the missing pieces in ourselves. The younger son had everything he needed under his father’s care but he couldn’t see it. Once we realize what’s available to us through Christ, we can begin the journey to transformation. We have access to the kingdom of God through Christ. Healing, restoration, strength, and more are available through Christ when we return to him. We have to come to our senses about our ways of life that are contrary to the foundation Christ laid for us in the Bible. Repenting is something we all have to do because we all fall short. No one is perfect. We need Christ because he is the remission of our sins. He forgives our sins and makes us spotless, clean, and pleasing to God.
We repent so when our physical bodies can no longer sustain us and our spirit leaves the vessel we are able to dwell with God eternally. It is only through Christ that we are saved. We can’t save ourselves or be righteous in our own eyes. In Luke 16:15, Jesus tells the Pharisees “you are the ones who declare yourselves just and upright before men, but God knows your hearts”. The Pharisees were so used to their way of life and beliefs that when Jesus came with the truth, they couldn’t recognize it. They were self-righteous hypocrites.
We ALL need to repent.
Since we all have fallen short in some area of our life, we need to repent. It’s easy to get so caught up in the ways of this world that we don’t see our own faults and begin to live in a way that is contrary to the truth and way of life God purposed for us. Have you ever been in a situation that caused deep regret? What was your response? Did you have a change of heart and live life differently because of it?
