What About Repentance Devotion

Many of you probably grew up in a Christian home and went to a traditional church and accepted Jesus at some point as I did. Yet, it wasn’t until many years later that I learned about the true Gospel of God’s grace for me.  I continued walking with the Lord in the truth of what I knew in those days, and God was (always is!) so faithful to keep me moving forward with Him.

One truth I feel wasn’t properly taught as I look back now was the aspect of repentance. It seemed you had to earn God’s forgiveness because you slipped up. So, you’d make your way down to the front of the church and repent. The emphasis was on you and the necessity of making sure you earned God’s forgiveness. That is farthest from the truth of God’s Word. Wasn’t the cross sufficient for what we lacked in our own efforts? Doesn’t the cross cover our sins, past, present, and future?

Look at 2 Peter 3:9. “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” If we look at the Greek, we find the word for repentance is metanoia, meta means change, and noia refers to your mind. It simply means “a change of mind”. To repent simply means to change your mind – about what you thought about God. But for too long the church has made it seem God was mad at everyone and if you didn’t repent, He’d condemn you. Or maybe you didn’t repent enough so you continue to repent, week after week.

God is not willing for anyone to be lost and not know His love. Until we have a revelation of God’s love and grace, we won’t be able to ‘change our mind’ about His goodness, His Gospel (the good news). When we understand just how much God loves us, our heart will be transformed. We’ll know He not only loves us but accepts us as we are, where we are. Knowing this truth will turn our hearts to Him and we will truly repent – change our mind.

We’ll look more into this next week, but in the meantime, don’t focus on your sin, but change your mind on what Jesus did on the cross for you.