Our Daily Bread April 18 2008: "We should never get the idea that our sins are taken lightly by the Lord. But when we acknowledge our guilt with true repentance, God is ready to forgive because of what Jesus did on the cross. It's up to us to accept it."
As I read this I thought, "well this is a bit vague, what really is 'true repentance'?"
Well, let's see what Oxford says about the verb 'to repent'.. "feel or express sincere regret". Ok.. 'regret', that's slightly clearer. Merriam-Webster takes this a step further and states, "to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life". Wow, well that's straight to the point! But I think both definitions are required for a complete discussion of 'true repentance'.
Now, to analyse our findings. In Oxford's definition, we note To Feel or Express Sincere Regret. At its core, this simply means, to say sorry. To Confess your sin AS a sin, to God. Then, to Sincerely apologise for it. In sincerely saying sorry, I think this is where Merriam-Webster's definition comes into play and provides some key points in examining 'true repentance'.
Firstly, it stresses, to Turn From Sin. To be honest, this is much, much easier said than done. Even Paul stresses this point in his epistle to the Romans when he writes, "For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice" (See Romans 7:13-25 NKJV). As descendants of Adam and Eve, humans, are considered by some as sinful by nature (See Psalms 51:5 but also this insightful discussion). Personally, I believe that If God had left us to our own devices, by now the Earth - as we know it - would be no more! But anyway, note: Turn From Sin i.e. Set your back to Sin i.e. Do not do Sin.
Next, Dedicate oneself to the amendment of one's life. This is self-explanatory, but be careful of just viewing it just as a sentence. The meaning goes considerably deeper than any normal sentence. Dedicating oneself to the correction of one's life, in my opinion means, putting your all into not doing that Sin again. I remember in a Sunday School session a few years ago, Mr. Best, our teacher then, said that to repent meant to make a 180 degree turn. In essence, whatever it was, DO NOT go down that path again. Again, I myself confess that this is far from an easy task. But, this I believe perfectly exemplifies 'true repentance'.
In closing, I think from this brief discussion that we've highlighted some of the most important tenets of 'true repentance'. These are: To Confess your sin; To Sincerely Apologise for it; To Turn From Sin; and finally to Make a 180 degree turn and NOT go down that path again.
I hope you find this discussion somewhat enlightening and even if you see fit, to spread The Word. Have a great week!