What is Repentance and How Do I Do It? Repentance is not something we do by ourselves. Repentance is not purely our work. Repentance is something that God must do in us. The Bible tells us that God grants repentance (2 Timothy 2:25-26; Acts 11:18). You can only repent when the Holy Spirit has brought you conviction. The Christian life would be very much simpler if we grasped that it consists of working together with whatever the Holy Spirit is seeking to do in and with us. We should live life in sensitivity to whatever God is doing in our lives and collaborate actively with Him. Repentance consists of quitting my resistance to the Holy Spirit, seeing matters Gods way, and going along with the process that God is doing in me. There must be repentance before forgiveness can be expected. Jesus said, Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; if he repents forgive him (Luke 17:3). Note the order of events that our Lord sets forth: if repentance, then forgiveness. Forgiveness comes from repentance, not by accident. Repentance is no pleasure trip. It may involve tears. The Bible calls it godly sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:8-11). This godly sorrow contains earnestness, eagerness to be clean, indignation, alarm, longing, and concern (v. 11). The Old Testament believers showed their repentance with tearing of their clothes, wearing sackcloth (very uncomfortable clothing), and ashes on the head. Repentance is no pleasure trip. It can be extremely painful to admit that you have been wrong. C. S. Lewis said, Repentance is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means working with God in killing a part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death. But weeping is only one of the emotions associated with true repentance. Paul tells us that godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret (2 Corinthians 7:10). Delirious joy is a fruit of true repentance. Joy over the wonder of sins forgiven, of Gods loving acceptance of me, of new power cleansing and transforming my wicked heart. The whole life of a Christian should be one of repentance. So how do we repent? First you must truly want to repent. You must avoid that caricature of repentance that is merely a cover for sorrow over consequences. This is called worldly sorrow and it leads only to death (2 Corinthians 7:10). Esau is given as an example of false repentance. He was rejected because he did not really want to change his mind (Hebrews 12:15-17). Then you must ask God to search your heart to show you your sins as He sees them. You must call them by their names--even write down a list of them as God searches your heart. Then add to the list your problems and ask God whether you should not call them sins, rather than problems. Take time in quietness to let God speak to your heart. All the time your focus must not be on your sins but on your Savior, on what your sins cost Him and with what love He paid for them. Dont focus on the grime, but on the gospel. As far as you are able you must refuse to go on practicing the sins (Matthew 3:7-8). At the very least, this means removing yourself as much as possible from places of temptation (Proverbs 4:14-17). If your sin was against other people, then you must go to them and ask their forgiveness (Matthew 5:23-24). If the sin involves stealing, then restitution must be made (Luke 19:8). Forgiveness will not happen until these take place. Finally ask God to change your heart with an infusion of His righteousness. This is the good news: that we do not have power to transform ourselves, but God does. We do not have the power to be a holy, truly repent person. Only Father working through the Cross can change us -- and He desires to do so. As you follow this process of repentance, you will not entirely succeed in getting rid of the practice of sin. It may not come at once, but when you ask God something like that, sooner of later He will answer. By all means go on asking and one day under the moving of the Spirit of God, you will have repented truly. C. S. Lewis wrote: Can we do it if God helps us? Yes, but what do we mean when we talk about God helping us? We mean God putting into us a bit of Himself.That is what we are looking for when we repent: God putting into us a bit of Himself.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 15:14:45 +0000
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