Encouragement

Thoughts on Repentance

by Terry Barlow
10/27/17
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Repentance is such a wonderful process and reality! It is a kind of spiritual surgery that it is our privilege to undergo. The Amplified Bible defines and aptly describes repentance as a change of heart and mind for the better resulting in an abhorrence for our past sins and a change of conduct. (See Matthew 4 v.17 and Acts 2 v.38 for example)  The very first recorded word that Jesus preaced in the gospels was: "Repent."  By means of repentance we can separate and disassociate ourselves from past misbehavior and associate ourselves more intimately with our Lord. In doing that we are making a statement. We are saying something like this: “That act or attitude, those thoughts or words are not me anymore (in a sense they never were me) and I don’t identify with them and I no longer relate to them. I am separating them from my being, and from my conduct and from my lifestyle once and for all. I am hereby liberated from ever having to be guilty of committing this sin and being victimized by it again.” Genuine repentance is a gift from God and is activated and energized by God’s power. We cannot pull it off in our own strength, but when and as God grants it is the most creative and liberating process we can ever be a part of as believers in and followers of Jesus Christ.