The subject of redemption is found in the Bible's pages. When Jesus spoke, he also said that repentance was important for his audience. He said that he came to call to repentance "sinners" (Luke 5:32).
For us today, the message is just as much as it was for people living 2,000 years ago. All must learn how to repent of sin, because God commands repentance to all men everywhere" (Acts 17:30). For no one, without first repentance of sin, will obtain the gift of eternal life.
Yet in the religious world, repentance is sometimes misunderstood. Many see it as an emotional response to guilt, feeling remorseful for our sins, or just seeking forgiveness from God. These aspects include genuine repentance, but the Bible reveals that there is more to it.
True repentance is much more than a momentary emotional response; it's a lifelong process, actually! A lot of people feel a need to change something in their lives, but what needs to be changed, exactly? What does one have to do to maintain a repentant attitude?
What does the Bible say about how to repent?
Five basic stages of the repentance process will be discussed in this article. Those steps will be:
Step 1: Accept that the thoughts of God are greater and stronger than ours.
The first step in true repentance is to change the way we think. We must come to realize that the mind and thoughts of God are really higher and better) than ours.
For your thoughts are not my thoughts, and your ways are not my ways. For as the heavens are greater than the earth, so are my ways greater than your ways, and my thoughts greater than your thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).
We don't think like this, naturally. The Apostle Paul explained how people generally believe: "For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh" (Romans 8:5).
As God does the human mind does not think. The human mind thinks in the flesh. "Paul also wrote that the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to God's rule, nor can it be (Romans 8:7). Enmity implies that what God's law commands us to do, we instinctively resist and oppose.
But what does flesh mean?
In other words, thinking and doing what we want to do and what feels good, regardless of the law and direction of God, is guided by fleshly and worldly motives.
The kind of carnal thoughts that come from our minds have been identified by Jesus Christ: "What comes out of a man, that defiles a man." For wicked thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, robberies, covetousness, wickedness, deception, lewdness, an evil eye, heresy, vanity, stupidity, follow from within, out of the hearts of men. All these bad things come from within and defile a person (Mark 7:20-23, emphasis added throughout).
According to God, our fleshly, carnal mind creates thoughts and acts which are sinful. "Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hate, contention, jealousy, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heretics, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelry, and the like are the natural "works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-21).
These bad acts are all sin; they breach the law of Heaven (1 John 3:4).
So we must first identify that our thinking and habits are out of line with the thoughts and laws of God in order to repent and please God. But we can't do that until we know that his views and ways are better than ours and that they are right.
And we need to remember that this interpretation is driven by God Himself. The goodness of God leads you to repentance," as Paul wrote, " (Romans 2:4).
Step 2: Consider our personal shame over sin.
The second step to genuine repentance is to humbly accept our personal guilt against God, which means confessing our sins and recognizing how far in our lives we fall short of the thoughts and ways of God.
The stirring sermon of the Apostle Peter on the Feast of Pentecost in Jerusalem struck his audience's conscience. Thousands of people were 'cut to their cores,' and they said to Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, 'Brethren, what are we to do? " (Acts 2:37).
They recognised their shame internally and admitted it freely. Their remorse requested that they learn how to confess and start to change their lives.
King David fell victim to his flesh's very heavy pulls. He did not justify himself when faced with his sins. He understood immediately how offensive his sins were to God and that he "sinned against the LORD" (2 Samuel 12:13; Psalm 51:4). We must always note that (Acts 20:21) we repent to God, not to a human being.
"What Isaiah wrote later, David understood that "your iniquities have divided you from your God; and your sins have concealed His face from you, that He may not hear (Isaiah 59:2). David knew the seriousness of his sins and didn't want his relationship with God to be broken. He freely admitted those sins and bitterly repented to God (Psalm 51).
We must all go directly to God, confess our sins and ask Him to intervene and forgive us in our lives.
Step 3: Move away from our ways and immoral thoughts.
Turning aside (or giving up) the sins of our lives is the third step to genuine repentance.
The prophet Isaiah said, "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the wicked man his thoughts; let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him and unto our God, for he will forgive abundantly" (Isaiah 55:7).
No one is immune to sin: "For everyone has sinned and falls short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). John tells Christians, even after baptism and conversion, "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." When we say we have not sinned, we make a liar of Him and His word is not in us (1 John 1:8, 10).
The final consequence of sin is death, eternal death. The Bible makes this very clear: "It is death for the wages of sin" (Romans 6:23). Jesus said Unless you repent, all of you will perish as well" (Luke 13:3, 5).
Some assume that torture in hell is the result of sin, but these verses (and many others) make it clear that the only consequence and penalty for sin is death.
God does not want this ultimate price to be paid by us. For each of us, his goal is to learn how to confess, be forgiven of our sins, and have the death penalty lifted. "As some count slackness, the Lord is not slack about His promise, but longsuffering towards us not willing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).
Repentance demands that we turn from our sins and turn to God-both actions and thoughts. We must confess to God our sins and cease to sin. This method demands a lifetime dedication for those who truly wish to please God. Via water baptism, we make that promise.
Step 4: Through the word of God, strive to live.
In order to bring ourselves into harmony with God, the fourth step to true repentance is changing our lives. The laws of God determine what we must modify. We must take seriously God's orders. This is what is called being converted by the Bible.
Peter said that repentance is correlated with salvation (changing our lives): "Therefore repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" (Acts 3:19).
It takes modesty to strive to improve our lives in order to reconcile them with the ways of God: "I will look upon this one: he who is poor and contrite in spirit, and who trembles at my word" (Isaiah 66:2). A repentant person will obey the Word of God and aspire to abide by what it says.
"In Matthew 4:4, when we respect the Word of God, we will seek to fulfill the words of Jesus: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that follows from the mouth of God.
By keeping His commandments, a person who is learning how to repent will begin to obey God. "For the love of God is this that we keep His commandments" (1 John 5:3). "The last Bible book focuses on those Christians of the end time "who keep God's commandments (Revelation 12:17; Revelation 14:12; Revelation 22:14).
Without being discouraged, God promises to give us the resolve and power to face our sins and conquer them. More than human determination is needed for this spiritual war. God must be active, irrespective of how long it takes us to succeed in this phase. He gives us the additional power "both to will and to do for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13).
Step 5: Continue finding repentance and depending on the sacrifice of Christ.
"Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ" is the fifth step to genuine repentance (Acts 20:21). We confess to God our sins and He forgives us because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. We ought to have faith that not only did Christ sacrifice himself for our sins, but also that our sins were eliminated by His sacrifice.
Our Savior is Jesus Christ. The punishment for our sins was his death. "But God demonstrates His own love for us, in that Christ died for us while we were still sinners" (Romans 5:8).
For the remainder of our lives, our trust in Christ, in what He did for us, continues. We must go to God the Father every time we sin and pray for forgiveness, which is made possible by our Savior's sacrifice. We must have total faith and trust that each time we repent, the sacrifice of Christ will be extended to us.
We must have a repentant mind for the rest of our lives
The carnal mind influences our human being, and in this life it will never go away. The rest of our lives will be spent fighting against the pulls of our existence. Some fights we will win; others we will lose. But as long as God sees that we truly want not to sin, that we despise sin and fight against it that we pray constantly, He is compassionate.
For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His grace unto them that fear Him: as far as the east is from the west, so far hath He taken away from us our transgressions. Like a father is gracious to his children, so the Lord is gracious to those who fear him (Psalm 103:11-13). He knows that we are flesh and when we confess, is fast to forgive us.
The apostle John summed up both how to repent and the merciful response of God to our repentance: "His Son, the blood of Jesus Christ, cleanses us from all sin." He is faithful and just, if we confess our sins, to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7-9; see also Psalm 51:2, 7).
The process of redemption and conversion outlined in the Bible is vitally necessary to recognize and act on.
