True Repentance

-


The word repentance literally means to change one's mind. A change in thinking; aka, faith is the first step on our journey of discipleship with Jesus Christ. Repentance has been misconstrued through the years to mean changing one's behavior. To be accepted by God; therefore, one would have to change their behavior (turn away from their sins) and accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. This is a faulty view of repentance which can be damaging. We can not change our behavior--that is the problem and that is precisely why Jesus Christ came. He came saying, "Repent, the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Jesus followed up his command for repentance with the phrase "the Kingdom of heaven is near." If repentance is a change in thinking, why did he say, "The Kingdom of heaven is near?" Jesus said it because in order to recognize the Kingdom of God coming upon them, they had to change their thinking concerning the Kingdom of God. Israel's expectation of the Messiah ushering in the Kingdom of God was that the King would come, whip the crap out of the Romans, kick them out of Israel and make Israel great again. The idea of a Servant King coming to take away the sins of the world through a sacrificial death was totally foreign to them; in fact, it would take a 180* change in thinking to accept Jesus as the Messiah. Likewise, today, there needs to be a 180* change in our thinking about God, ourselves and what it means to be in Christ. Because we live in a performance based society filled with laws and expectations, we naturally think that is how God relates to us. The gospel declares that being in Christ has nothing to do with our performance, circumstances or adherence to any law system. This is foreign and hard to grasp and must come by a revelation from the Holy Spirit.

Comments

Harriet said…
Bill, this is just such a fantastic concept, so true, and so foreign . . .even to me at one time . . .I want the WORLD to read THIS one . . .(at least the "religious" world!!!! hjs
April 15, 2008 at 10:25 AM
Jim Groth said…
Bill,

Excellent! True repentance as you described it leads to faith, hope and love. False repentance (behavior modification or feelings)leads to despair ot pride.

We must repent (change our thinking) about ourselves our place in the world, our dependance on the world system to total dependence upon Christ.

Something radically different was ushered in by Jesus that is contrary to normal thinking.
As a result we must change our thinking.

We are now lead by the Spirit, not by the flesh (our former way of thinking) into living by faith, not law, freeing us to live by faith, hope and love.

Only in this way can we fulfill the law of Christ to love God and each other.

Thanks again.
April 15, 2008 at 12:33 PM
Anonymous said…
Bill:

Good words, thanks for your thoughts about this subject. I would only add that once you accept this new view of repentance Jesus does lift the great burden we all seem to carry to preform and feel extremely guilty everytime we fail which in my case is daily.

God Bless!!

Gary Jones
April 16, 2008 at 3:08 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Conviciton Myth

-
Image
The great news that a believer is under no condemnation is often squelched with the statement, and I have heard it often, "God does not condemen us when we sin, but He will convict us." Really? Is that what the Scriptures teach? As baby Christians, we so often buy hookline and sinker things that are said by preachers, teachers or "mature" Christians because the "BIBLE" says its true. I have found and have been guilty of the same thing, that many folks know what the "BIBLE SAYS," but they have no clue what it means. The present example of God convicting His children is one of those lies. The idea that God won't condemn, but will convict comes from Jesus statement in the upper room. Jesus was telling the disciples about the coming and work of the Holy Spirit. He told them, "Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. 8 When he comes, he will prove the world to be in the wrong about sin and righ
Read more

Knowing Your Enemy is Half the Battle

-
Image
20But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth I don't know if it is half the battle, but I do know that not knowing your enemy in the Christian life is crippling, confusing and catastrophizing . Many Christians might say, "Yep, I know my enemy--it is that filthy devil...I rebuuuuuuuuuuuuuke you filthy devil." Yes, satan is a powerful foe to be reckoned with; however, he is not the real problem...he has been stripped of his power. All he has left is the lie. Lies, lies, lies, is all he has. He is not allowed to come near any believer unless God allows it. It always makes me angry when I see people getting all whipped up about the devil when the Scriptures simply say, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you." That is it. The believer has been given "all the fullness" (col. 2) of Christ Jesus which includes headship over the principalities and powers. All we need to do is resist. The weakest of believers have this aut
Read more