Repentance is a Bible word that is packed with a whole lot of meaning. Repentance is also an action word that speaks about steps that are critical for anyone who wants to live in a right relationship with God should take.
Here are the top two definitions of repentance from the Miriam Webster’s dictionary:
- To turn from sin and to dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life.
- To change one’s mind.
I see an action here. There is a turning away from sin. There is a change of direction. There is a decisive action to change courses. I also see surrender, in that there is a dedication, a devotion, to a different way of life. Repentance involves a yielding to a way that is different from the way a person might want to naturally go. It is voluntary and deliberate. It involves a person’s will. Third, I see that repentance has a mental component. Something happens in the thought life of a person who truly seeks to repent. There is a reforming of a person’s thoughts. There is an adopting of a new mindset.
Turning. Yielding. Reforming. You turn with your body, literally changing directions and moving away from things that displease God, to walk in alignment with Him. That is a repentance with your body.
The place of yielding is the place of the heart. Instead of letting feelings and impulses rule, the person who truly repents doesn’t lean on their own understanding. They don’t follow their feelings, but they surrender their feelings, they crucify their feelings and choose in their hearts to willfully obey Christ.
In addition to having the body and heart involved in repentance, we see from these definitions that a person’s mind is also engaged. There is a change of mind about what leads to real happiness. There is a change of mind about what should be priority. There is a transformation in a person’s viewpoint regarding what truly leads to happiness. The person who repents in their mind begins to start thinking about sin, starts thinking about life, the way God does. The word, “Metanoia,” is the Greek word for “repentance.” It means a person literally has had a change of mind, one that changes their behavior.
Turning Yielding Reforming
Body Heart Mind
If a person tries to practice repentance but only involves their body, eventually, their heart and mind will draw them back to what they turned from. If a person yields only their heart but doesn’t have their mind changed about why something should be avoided, eventually, the mind will lead the body to do that which displeases God. If a person seeks only to understand what God thinks about a subject but doesn’t crucify their flesh and surrender their heart in an area, eventually the pull of the flesh and the feelings will cause a train wreck.
Someone who wants to live a life of repentance has to understand that it is a three-pronged approach. Even adopting a two-pronged strategy won’t be foolproof because Satan will seek to tempt you in the area that you haven’t yet given over to God.
You might sincerely want to please God in your heart. You might be in total agreement with what God says about a particular sin, but if you continue to drive your car to the sin spot, if you continue to hop on the websites that open the temptation door, if you continue to run with the people who are doing what you are trying to get away from, well…you are setting yourself up for failure.
A lot of people associate repentance with feeling sorry. Tears don’t automatically equate to repentance. Saying, “I’m sorry” isn’t the same as being repentant. Even asking God for forgiveness isn’t what repentance is about. That is what confession is about. Repentance involves more. Even regret isn’t a sign of repentance. People can regret getting caught. People can regret that something didn’t lead to the happiness they thought it would. People can regret that sin came with consequences. That doesn’t mean they are going to turn from sin, yield their heart to Christ and be made new in the attitude of their minds.
Repentance takes place when you accept that you have done something offensive towards God, and you take the necessary steps to move away from that habit, that activity, that experience, and you return to God with your will, your heart, and your mind.
Repentance is a next-level step. It produces a humility and desire to be changed and to change. Listen, before any of us can change, we will need to be changed by God. True repentance won’t take place apart from supernatural help. We have to have help to overcome temptation in our physical bodies. We have to have Divine help to yield our hearts completely to the Lord. We have to have a Holy Spirit transformation in our minds, something that comes only as we partner with the Holy Spirit and present ourselves to God for Him to change us. But the good news is, God will work in and with anyone who truly seeks to repent. He won’t withhold His power. He won’t withhold His resources. He will be 100% committed to and engaged with the person who desires to live a repentant life.
Our country is in trouble. The only hope for America is Jesus, but He won’t bless what we won’t confess. He won’t refresh and restore us if we won’t repent.
“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. II Chronicles 7:14
We need to stop waiting for the world to repent. Let’s lead the way, Church. God’s people need to be the lead repenters! And repentance requires the submission of our heart, our mind, and our will. It includes the confession of our sin, and it involves a turning away from anything that could distract or damage us as we seek to follow Christ.