In this video, Grace@Work leader Cortney Alexander talks about what it means to repent from sin.
People often say that the word “repent” means to change one’s mind or to turn away from something. But what does that mean as it relates to sin? What are Christians actually asking people to do?
Let’s start with an analogy. Consider a person with a serious disease who visits a doctor because he’s experiencing very painful symptoms. The doctor could simply treat the symptoms. That would make the patient feel better, but the disease will continue to fester until it ultimately kills him.
God is not that kind of doctor. Because he’s not merely a healer—he’s our Creator. He loves mankind. In fact, he loves mankind so much that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
But does the patient want to be healed of his disease? That takes us back to repentance.
When Christians talk about repenting of sin, we aren’t referring to sinful actions alone. We’re also talking about repenting of the source of sinful actions. Just as the symptoms of a disease result from the disease itself, sinful actions result from a sinful heart.
Sometimes, a person’s sinful behavior will become so destructive that he knows he needs help. But does he actually want to be cured of that sinful behavior, or does he simply want to manage it better?
Wanting to manage sin is not the same thing as wanting a healthy heart. Because even if a particular sinful behavior is removed entirely, the sinful heart remains. Pretty soon, that diseased heart will start producing more diseased behavior.
True repentance involves recognizing that our hearts are sinful—that is, they are in opposition to God—and that we can’t do anything about it. We cannot create a new heart within ourselves. But the good news is that our Creator can! The one who created all things can create a new heart in us—a heart that loves its Creator and wants to live life in a manner pleasing to him.
Repentance involves crying out to God, “I know I have a sinful heart—create in me a clean heart, O God, a heart that loves you!”
When we make this cry of repentance to God, we can have confidence he will respond.
As Jesus said in the gospel of Luke: “I tell you, ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened” (Lk. 11:9).
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