Repentance: A Posture of Humility

by Angie Thomas

Repentance is such an interesting idea and one I understand somewhat intellectually but have a difficult time walking out.  Merriam Webster defines repentance as a verb, “to turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life. To change one’s mind.” The problem is that for a long time in my Christian life I didn’t understand that I needed to be doing this DAILY.  I thought I had repented the moment I had dedicated my life to Christ and confessed my sins. Why would I need to keep doing it? The answer is because while our hearts have been changed and made righteous, our minds and lives are still broken.  What is our motivation for this struggle to change our life and mind?  Romans 2:4 says, “God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.”  His kindness, undeserved love, His grace.  Those moments when you sense the Lord’s blessing and His love, when you recall the Gospel and that He sacrificially gave His life to atone for you, a dirty, rotten sinner—this kindness is to under-gird our repentance.  I am praying that our appreciation for His sacrifice that we did not deserve will lead us all to true and lasting repentance.  Paul says it so clearly: “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret” (2 Corinthians 7:10a).

God’s kindness to me in Jesus results in true grief over my sin that produces repentance that leads to salvation. Easy, right?!

You might want to consider doing a word search on repentance in your Bible. I highly recommend the Bible App for this.