True Repentance
We have all heard we have to repent and that of course is true. The problem is what we were always told the word repent means. The word repent simply means to change your mind. It does not mean to change your ways. Contrary to what we were always told, this none the less is the true meaning of the word. So is it important to repent? Absolutely because when you change your mind about how God sees you, it will be the greatest repentance you will ever experience.
How does God look and accept us if it is not through our works? He accepts us through the work of the cross and only through the work of the cross. Don’t think for a moment that your works impress God as far as being in right standing with Him. Your works can never do that. He has already accepted you in the beloved (Jesus) and nothing you do or don’t do can change that.
In the relationship between man and God it is not really important what you think about your relationship with God. The important thing is to know what God’s relationship is with you. It is much more important to know what God thinks of you than it is to try and figure out what you think about God. So what does God think about us? He thinks we are just the greatest and holy and perfect.
There is nothing on this earth that can surpass what He thinks of us. He sees us in His Son and He loves us with an everlasting love that can never change or be taken away. You may not hear this coming from the church you attend because they will tell you this is only so until you step out of line and then you are in trouble with God. They will tell you that you place yourself on dangerous ground if you commit something they think is not right and if you stop going to church, you really could get in a position to stray totally away from God and be lost forever.
I guess I should say here that when I say what we have heard from church, I should say that it is what I heard from church. I cannot speak for anyone else but I am really stating what I heard in the years I attended several different churches. There is not truth in any of this that was preached to me and my family. What was preached was another gospel and not the gospel at all like Paul says in Galatians.
My repentance came when I changed my mind about how God sees me. It did not come at some altar when I said a prayer in order to be right with God. I was already right with God and I just had to repent (change my mind) about how God see’s me and others. That was my time of repentance. I wish I could get across to those that do not believe this, so they could repent and see the same way. You see, believing something is true does not make it true. Truth is truth whether we believe it or not. The truth is you are perfectly right in God’s eyes and that is how He wants you to see yourself and others. That is true repentance.
