Real Repentance
Contributed by Brett Ahern
Last month’s Passover article reviewed Israel’s liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt. God used plagues when responding to Egypt’s ‘no’ answers. He asked them each time to repent of their previous decision. Egypt refused to change their mind, to the bitter end.
While ‘repentance’ is a word used in religious circles, it’s also a common day occurrence. We occasionally change our mind. When was the last time you regretted your previous choice? You changed your mind and repented of your prior decision.
Real repentance goes deeper than our minds. It’s about our life’s orientation, our heart’s purpose. We change our mind because we change our heart’s path. In Scripture, the Hebrew word for ‘repent’ means to change direction, to be grieved, to console oneself with the truth, to be comforted by it. While this may happen in a variety of ways, and we may experience this differently, the outcome of transformed lives is the same. Here’s my personal report of my first real repentance; my heart’s grief, soul’s transformation, and life’s comfort.
As a teenager I read the daily newspaper. It was frustrating. I quickly developed the habit of punching it, saying, “Idiots! Why are people so stupid?!” and stopped reading it for the rest of the day. It was upsetting.
I also perused radio stations, looking for interesting programs. I stumbled across one with a preacher who proposed, “You can prove the Bible is true or not true. Read it for yourself, research the prophecies to see if they came true, and reach your own conclusion.” I was very interested: a science experiment I could implement myself.
I spent six months on this quest and concluded that the Bible is true. But it was just a thought in my mind. It was just an additional fact. It lacked personal impact.
Shortly after this I had an honesty experience. I was a Boy Scout leader and coordinated a troop meeting for the parents one night. Some parents showed up early to help. I spoke rudely to one of them. My dad overheard and when we got home, he told me that I was never going to do that again. I left his bedroom and went to the shower. Truth weighed heavily on me. I saw clearly that I was just like the idiots in the newspaper. All that I did was selfish, only looking out for my narrow interests. I saw my life as a perpetual loop of clever manipulation, with no good coming out of it. I wept uncontrollably. I was trapped, with no way out.
Then I saw Jesus, hanging on the cross. I instantly knew this was what he died for, a substitute for me, who truly deserved this for how I lived cruelly. I desperately said ‘yes’ to His unspoken question. Instantly truth’s weights broke off me and a wave of joy washed over me. I never felt anything like this! I felt so clean inside. I felt so new, so good! So much peace! Now I was connected to God by His spirit. Unknowingly, that ‘yes’ changed my life’s direction, my heart’s direction. I really repented.
That was 50 years ago. Yet that spiritual orientation effortlessly persists in my heart and mind to this day. As a Christian I’ve had other real repentance events since then. Sometimes radical, often sober - giving up on my current misdirection, fine-tuning my life’s purpose. But still real repentance: upgrading my life’s meaning, purpose, and goals.
The apostle Paul wrote about this in the Bible. In 2 Corinthians 7:11 KJV we see a church situation where a member needed to repent of his sin-saturated life. The church also needed to repent of their mishandling of the situation. In 1 Corinthians Paul called them out on it. He brought truth home with stark honesty. They accepted his correction and in 2 Corinthians he commended them for their response and its results. In 7:11 he listed the fruit of their experience. He highlighted seven facets of their repentance, listed in developmental order, climbing step by step, until they were fully out of the reach of this sin. Then blameless, they lived a richer Christ-energized life.
2 Corinthians 7:11
“For observe this very thing, that you sorrowed in a godly manner: What diligence it produced in you, what clearing of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what vehement desire, what zeal, what vindication! In all things you proved yourselves to be clear in this matter.”
If you would like to pray and discuss this further, you can reach me at brettact2@gmail.com
You can go to my Facebook page, Hearing God’s Voice, if you want some guidance to continue this.
I am also the author of 3 web sites:
- TheGraciousTenCommandments.com
- TheMoralSabbath.com
- TheAtheistDilemma.com