Repentance, as I understand it, is simply a change of mind! At first I thought, to change your mind is a very fickle thing and I did not want to be known as being fickle somehow! But when I thought a little more I realized that when we are learning something, we have knowledge of what we are learning about, in a particular way. When we get more knowledge of what we are learning, we change our mind about what we knew before we got that knowledge. For instance, there was a route I would take to a favourite place as often as I went there. But then someone told me of a much quicker way with so much less traffic which made it quieter. I quickly changed my mind with the new knowledge I had. I sincerely regretted all the times I could have used this better route. How good it was to go on this road!
In the same way, I thank God He gave me the grace to change my mind in relation to Who He is and what He requires of me. For years I thought that to be a good person was the road to life. At the end, God would weigh my good works and my bad works and then decide. Besides, I thought that God loves all humanity and doesn't want any to go to hell. I thought that each one is destined to be born in the home we are born into and for me it was a Christian home with Christian parents. I thought that infant baptism made me a qualified candidate for the Christian heaven because my parents had done it and their parents before them.....never mind that some ancestors up the family tree hadn't a clue about this!
When I received enlightenment, it was because others prayed for me and then the Bible made sense to me. It said that I am a sinner, born in iniquity, no matter what family I am born into or what I had or had not done. The only way to get right with the Holy God of the Bible was to get rid of sin and that was done by identifying with Jesus Christ's death, burial and resurrection as in Romans 6:3-4. That was applicable to all who wanted a relationship with the Holy God of the Bible Whom I could now call Father, having joined His family. It was not my logical deductions or thinking but simply believing. That was my repentance. This also required forgiving people from my side. God gave me grace to do that!
It's been almost twenty five years since I went through repentance and I can say with confidence that my life didn't remain the same. I received the peace that passes all understanding and that has never left me. I repent and forgive daily so that my relationship with my heavenly Father doesn't change. I just love to take His help and He uses me to glorify the Lord Jesus. I thank God for His grace and favour towards me.
Now I know that God has this wonderful plan for me which I am part of, so I don't have to be in competition with anybody about being better or lesser than others! All God requires is for me to keep being in His plan and to keep applying the Blood of Jesus Christ to mortify the deeds of my flesh and the Holy Spirit does all the changes and transformation that is required in me to become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ so that when He takes me I can see Him face to face. Isn't that wonderful?
In the same way, I thank God He gave me the grace to change my mind in relation to Who He is and what He requires of me. For years I thought that to be a good person was the road to life. At the end, God would weigh my good works and my bad works and then decide. Besides, I thought that God loves all humanity and doesn't want any to go to hell. I thought that each one is destined to be born in the home we are born into and for me it was a Christian home with Christian parents. I thought that infant baptism made me a qualified candidate for the Christian heaven because my parents had done it and their parents before them.....never mind that some ancestors up the family tree hadn't a clue about this!
When I received enlightenment, it was because others prayed for me and then the Bible made sense to me. It said that I am a sinner, born in iniquity, no matter what family I am born into or what I had or had not done. The only way to get right with the Holy God of the Bible was to get rid of sin and that was done by identifying with Jesus Christ's death, burial and resurrection as in Romans 6:3-4. That was applicable to all who wanted a relationship with the Holy God of the Bible Whom I could now call Father, having joined His family. It was not my logical deductions or thinking but simply believing. That was my repentance. This also required forgiving people from my side. God gave me grace to do that!
It's been almost twenty five years since I went through repentance and I can say with confidence that my life didn't remain the same. I received the peace that passes all understanding and that has never left me. I repent and forgive daily so that my relationship with my heavenly Father doesn't change. I just love to take His help and He uses me to glorify the Lord Jesus. I thank God for His grace and favour towards me.
Now I know that God has this wonderful plan for me which I am part of, so I don't have to be in competition with anybody about being better or lesser than others! All God requires is for me to keep being in His plan and to keep applying the Blood of Jesus Christ to mortify the deeds of my flesh and the Holy Spirit does all the changes and transformation that is required in me to become more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ so that when He takes me I can see Him face to face. Isn't that wonderful?
