“Have mercy upon me O God according to your loving kindness, according to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin for I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is always before me, against thee, thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in your sight that thou mightest be justified just when thou speakest and be clear when thou judgest.” (Psalm 51:1-4)
There are counterfeit forms of repentance and its often passed off as the real thing. Here is examples: Lord, I’m really sorry I got caught or Lord I’m really sorry I sinned, I sure hope I can do better next time. Both these repentances are made out of guilt or maybe just embarrassment, its not a heartfelt sense of remorse over the fact that God has been grieved. Usually these people have no intention of changing, they just attempting to get God of their backs.
When you repent and mean it, you confess and you say, Lord, I am sorry for my mistake and Lord I have sinned against you. David said in the scripture above that he had sinned against the Lord. It didn’t mean he failed to recognize that he had sinned against Bathsheba and her husband, he realized that his sin was against God. When we commit adultery as David did with Bathsheba, we are committing sin against God. We need to recognize that our sin is against God. Other people will hurt also. You see, David accepted his responsibility for his sin with Bathsheba. He said, I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is always before me. He didn’t say, now Lord, you know it takes two, I wasn’t the only one involved, she should have been more careful, you know Lord, I am only human. David never accused Her and he did not mention her name, he took full responsibility for his own sin. We sometimes will blame the other person to cover up for our own sin. Repentance takes full responsibility for our sin also repentance requires total honesty with God. We get into trouble when we try to cover up things. Now Lord, I know I made a mistake but everybody makes mistakes, Lord, nobody is perfect. When we say this we just avoiding the real issue and this is dishonesty.
What happens when we delay our repentance? The Bible teaches us that God disciplines those who are disobedient. The story of David and Bathsheba is a very good example. When David committed adultery he did not repent immediately. It was sometime later before he faced up to what he had done and it was not on his own accord either. God sent a prophet, Nathan, to confront him. Only after Nathan told him the story of the man who had many sheep stealing from the man who had only one sheep did David realize the great evil he had done.
What does repentance mean for the unbeliever? Repentance for those outside Christ means a change of mind. The unbeliever is to change his mind about what he believes concerning Jesus Christ. He moves from unbelief to belief that Jesus paid the penalty for his sin. An unsaved person admits that he/she cannot save themselves. The Bible tells us in Acts 2:38: “repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and ye shall receive the gift of the holy spirit.” Here Peter was compelling them to believe that Jesus was more than a man from Nazareth, he was the resurrected Lord and Christ, he was the messiah they had longed for and they needed to change their minds from believing that Jesus was just a man to accepting his deity. Here Peter was trying to tell them his deity was miracles, wonders, signs and most of all God was raised from the dead. Paul told in his ministry to the Ephesus he testified to both Jews and Greeks of repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ.
You see, repentance and faith are inseparable. Repentance focuses on changing ones mind about their disbelief in God and Christ while faith in Christ focuses on receiving him as their personal savior. After you receive Christ, you will continue to repent as you grow in Christian faith and character. This repentance is a change that leads to change of behavior.
Jeane Brewer
Answers2Prayer subscriber cjbnanny@bellsouth.net