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To sin is a human business, to justify sins is a devilish business:
Leo Tolstoy
So, what is in a word? The word repent does give a sense of addressing guilt, but many people either skim over the meaning or attribute a more convenient connotation to it. Feeling guilty for bad behavior is commonly perceived as the meaning of the word but is only a small part of the command to repent. The prisons and jails are full of people who feel remorseful for their crimes, but their debts still need to be paid to society. The word “repent” may be more straightforward than you imagine.
In Hebrew, repentance is a one-syllable word, the verb: שוב 'shuv' meaning “to turn back or turn away ”. Real simple and direct. The commandment is telling us to make a 180-degree turn. When the people of Israel had created a series of self-inflicted disasters on themselves we read in Ezekiel:
Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, saith the Lord GOD. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed; and make you a new heart and a new spirit: for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.
Ezekiel 18:30-32 KJV
A summary of this passage is: a command is given by God with a warning. God, in this text doesn't appear to be the judgmental ogre that some portray Him to be in the Old Testament. These are parental, albeit firm statements for wayward children. What earthly father that knows the dire consequences of a course of action would not tell his children to abstain from certain behavior? Only stubbornly determined children, bent on their own destruction, would not yield. The word “repent” is a turning away from danger, a call to obedience so that all will be well with your soul.
The passage from Ezekiel is full of mercy, a command to turn, to change your mind about your wrongdoing so you will not be destroyed. Is this mean-spirited, or loving? The booze-sipping, profanity-speaking, pornography-viewing churchgoer of today may think this is judgmental. Ironically the passage is directed at religious people, who need to follow the commandment to turn from their behavior. Has anyone thought that God may understand what He is talking about? Is the parent who stops their child from paying with matches interrupting a childhood game or saving them from destruction? Realizing who God is will help us to discover our lack of understanding and the necessity of obeying His word. Turn away from your behavior. Re-quoting: “Repent, and turn yourselves from all your transgressions”.
Cast away your transgressions, as the text states, throw overboard those things that are not pleasing to God. Why will you let yourself be judged for your wrongs and be punished? Yes, we are human, yes, we are all guilty of sin, but only people who have repented have eternal life. Only those that leave sin and follow God and His law are not in danger of dying. Why would you not follow this simple command? Turn from the thing that will destroy you.
Imagine a doctor telling an alcoholic that if he doesn't stop drinking immediately he will die in a matter of weeks from cirrhosis of the liver. Is the doctor mean-spirited? Is the man foolish if he goes against the doctor's orders? You are absolutely right if you recognize that the man has free will, just as you do. The alcoholic is, as you are free to die in rebellion.
The God of Heaven, the one who is love, incarnate, does not want you to die, but without repenting, die you will. Turn and live, maintain your course and die. When it is said that the gospel is so simple anyone can understand it, it is true. In a nutshell the gospel message is: Turn and live.
In the Greek New Testament, the word “repent” is a compound word, μετάνοια 'metanoia', from the two base words: meta which is "after/behind” and the verb 'noeo' to think, or to realize. Literally means to “think differently.” Also, we can say it means: “Have a change of heart” or simply “change your mind”. The differences in the two definitions from Hebrew to Greek, are like so much the differences of the Old and New Testaments. The former deals with physical actions, the latter with the heart as the root all issues. The Hebrew word means to change your physical direction, the Greek, means to change your heart’s direction.
Jesus used the word “repent”, the Greek “metanoia”, in the New Testament describing the story of the prodigal son. Jesus said:
... I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
Luke 15:10 KJV
This is a story about a man who foolishly spent his inheritance on “riotous living”. Once he became penniless, he went to work in the pigpens on the farm of a local man to survive. Jesus speaking of this young man, is quoted here:
... when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!
Luke 15:17 KJV
The young man was bent on a path of action and then made a decision to turn away from his pathway. He made a 180-degree turn. His pathway, bringing temporary pleasure and quick thrills, left him in the pigsty quite literally. If he did not change his mind he would have continued in the same path that got him there. The only way out of the problems he created for himself was for him to “think differently” about his pleasures and desires and his obedience to authority.
If you have ever been lost while driving in an unfamiliar area, before the days of GPS, you may have wasted a lot of time in wrong turns. Possibly, all around you are people who are familiar with the area and willing to help a wayward traveler such as yourself. Yet, why could it take you so long to humble yourself to ask someone for directions? You do not know where the destination is exactly but there is a way of arriving at the end of your journey. Surrender pride or fear, or both, and change your mind about your tactics for life. You are not going to arrive going the way you are traveling, but change your path to cross the finish line. And just like those willing guides to your objective in the natural world, God is desirous to help you in the spiritual realms.
As stated in the beginning of this chapter, sorrow is an element of repentance. This sense of the word comes from the English definition:
1. Feel or express sincere regret or remorse about one's wrongdoing or sin.
2. View or think of (an action or omission) with deep regret or remorse.
If you truly thought through an action, habit or vice with true regret, before indulging in it would you not turn from it? Wouldn't you think differently about it? If you fully thought of the consequences of your sin would you continue to commit it? If you understood what the judgment of God is for your sins would that play into your decisions? The Bible tells us:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Proverbs 1:7 KJV
Also, from the words of Jesus:
The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 13:41-42 KJV
The only feelings of remorse expressed in Christ’s words are from the ones thrown into the fire. Feeling sorry for sin is not enough. Hiding sin is dangerous. Turning from sin is safety. Notice the scripture: “all things that offend, and them which do iniquity” Changing your mind, about who you offend and what you do, is repenting. Is fear a legitimate force to encourage you to turn? Jesus thought so, and by telling the truth, He invoked fear in His listeners. The reason to repent is consequences, clear and simple. Yes, we are to love God, but first we need to understand a reason why we should leave the sin we desire.
Please understand, this is not a “works-based” salvation. It is grace, in that repentance is offered and secondly, it is only through grace that we will be able to repent from our sins. It is God meeting those who have made a turn in their mind and heart, who have surrendered their life towards Him. We don’t deserve an opportunity to repent nor are we deserving the inconvenience God put Himself through for us. But, who can deny love motivates our Lord and His desire to pour out mercy?
Think of repentance as surrendering your sins and even more, your thinking, to God. This surrendering of your will is all before we can even discuss Jesus Christ's atonement on the cross. In turning away from your thinking about sin, you must cease to love it, and then despise and hate it. This is the only way possible for you to ever love God. Want proof? The words of Jesus:
And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
John 3:19-20
And:
If ye love me, keep my commandments.
John 14:15
And finally:
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.
John 14:23-24
From the lips of the One that brought us grace, are words that some may think harsh, but it is hard to argue against the logic of these words. More directly: we need to repent of our sins in order to love God. Before you tell yourself that “God understands my heart” because you pray on occasion, or go to church, or do other religious activity, have you obeyed Christ in His first command? Can someone who is not obeying Christ kneel at an altar or at their bedside and pray? Can someone who rejects Christ’s word to repent go to church? Could those same ones read their Bible? Could they wear Christian t-shirts? Could they look religious? Unfortunately, yes. However Christ’s first command is still the same: repent ye... Are your words something that resembles your deeds?
Many of us have had a friend that says that they support us or proclaim loyalty toward us but their actions are radically different than their words. They may be a fair weather friend or a backstabbing schemer, or both. When trust is broken, you can forgive them, but the relationship is damaged, maybe beyond repair. This simply is due to their hypocrisy that was on display. Hypocrisy is pretending to be someone that you are not, like an actor. They play a part; they don a mask and slip into their costume, stepping into their character only to cast it away when it is convenient.
Are churches, and truly our country, full of such characters that play a part for Sunday morning, only to transform into another person as soon as they leave church property? Do they comprehend the meaning of repentance? Instead of turning from sinfulness, do they bask in it? Is this due to a lack of understanding of Jesus' first commandment? Or something else?
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