Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Tuesday October 4, 2011

Over the many years that I have been preaching, writing and speaking to secular groups it is burned into my mind that one word, mostly used in religious venues stirs response, a response often vitriolic in nature. I am now under my desk, typing this word by pure memory.

Repent.

Essentially the biblical word means a change of mind. Many well-meaning people, including theologs leave it there, failing to grasp the meaning of the power of a changed mind. Solomon touched on this briefly when he wrote in Proverbs 23:7 "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he:, Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee." (Emphasis mine)

In her monthly paper primarily targeted to women in prison, Hope For Your Heart Carol Hoikkala had this little piece: "Repentance is made up of three things. There is a change of mind. There is a change of heart. There is a changed life."

A genuine change of mind will take control of feelings about a particular sin, or what many would call a thought about something or someone. The result is changed action in that area. Conversion repentance means a change of mind about Jesus Christ and when this change truly happens we change our mind to conform to the mindset of Christ concerning people and things. While conversion repentance is instant, accepting the mind of Christ in other areas often works on something new throughout our lifetime.

Repentance involves not only a change of mind concerning things society gives lip service to such as drunkenness, adultery, stealing etc, but strange as it seems a deep change of mind about our secret thought life, attitudes and mental/heart feelings about the hand life deals us weighing all against scripture. We are changed into a person who accepts the truth of Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." thereby choosing to permit the event to be a learning and growing experience rather than wasting life murmuring and blaming. I would rather have ordinary people with a good attitude giving their best than an army of sourpusses who are genius's asserting they are on my team.

Uncle Ben's Quotebook has it like this:

"Tis not enough to say,
I'm sorry and repent,
And then go on from day to day
Just as we always went.
Repentance is to leave
The sins we loved before,
And show that we in earnest grieve
By doing them no more."

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2011 Use with credit

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