Repentance

Most people do not understand repentance in the full Biblical meaning of the word. Repentance is not just feeling sorry for sins, no matter how much shame and contrition we feel. It is not doing works to have our sins forgiven. That is penance, which is taught by some churches, but it is not in the Bible. God is looking for genuine repentance before He will forgive our sins. It is an absolute necessity, if we truly want His forgiveness. Therefore, it is vital for us to understand repentance as God does. Isaiah gave us a great picture of true repentance. (Isaiah 30:15) Let's look at his explanation, which came from the Lord, so we can be sure we have repented of our sins in a way that is pleasing to God.

God is The Master. He is Holy. If we are to get right with God, we must acknowledge Him as the Holy Lord of all. When He gives us solemn counsel, we need to hear it clearly and follow it completely. God has told us that our salvation, our deliverance from our sins, requires us to turn back to Him and stop trying our silly efforts to save ourselves. Only God can forgive sins. No works we can do will ever bring forgiveness to even one sin. God is watching for us to turn from our ways of doing things and settle down into complete dependence on Him. We must admit He is Lord of all and do whatever He says to us in His Word, the Bible, or directly to us as we seek Him in prayer. Repentance is an act of the will. It is deciding that we can't save ourselves and deciding to surrender fully to God, doing what He wants, not what we want. This is the true repentance that gets God's attention. I pray we will take this description to heart, practice it, and be set free from our sins through fully trusting the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Isaiah 31-33.