Do You Know “Repentance”?

Jesus began His preaching ministry by saying “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). He would pay for the kingdom on the Cross and establish it fifty days later on Pentecost, as recorded in Acts 2. Therefore, Paul could write to the Colossian Christians thirty years later that they were in the kingdom of Christ (Colossians 1:13). We can be members of Christ’s kingdom today.

If it was important for the people during Jesus’ personal ministry to repent because the kingdom was at hand, surely it is of pressing importance that we repent today with Christ’s kingdom a reality.

Repentance necessitates a turning away from sin. It is much more than just being sorry. John the Baptist told his audience to produce fruit (in their lives) worthy of repentance (Matthew 3:8).

Humanity continues to stand in great need of repentance.

When the God-made union of marriage is defiled by divorce – we stand in great need of repentance.

When the God-approved beauty of heterosexual sex in marriage is sullied by an unnatural act – our need for repentance cries out.

When greed, arrogance, and the desire for revenge cause us to forget Jesus the Peacemaker – repentance becomes a distant and faint vision of something that might have been.

When we sow into the wind of sexual promiscuity and insatiable materialism and are then engulfed in the resulting whirlwind – repentance could have stopped it all.

When we become so indoctrinated with political correctness that we fail to even recognize, much less acknowledge, sin in all its forms – repentance into the Christian Life will at long last bring us to our senses.

When we are so selfish and immature that we continually point out the mote in our brothers eye in order to make the beam protruding from our own appear smaller by comparison. – the concept of repentance has become foreign, unknown, and indistinguishable.

When the multiplication of personal wants causes us to become blind to the immediate and pressing needs of others – we appear as if we have never even heard of the concept of repentance.

When we allow the zeal for error to outshine our diminishing fervor for truth – our motivation to repent becomes lost in our humiliation.

When the tree of wounded pride blinds us to the forest of opportunity – heartfelt repentance would restore our sight.

When the great Day of Judgment comes and we bow trembling before our Maker – the option of repentance, which we push from us now, will have forsaken us then.

Remember the words of Jesus, how He said: Repent . . . or perish (Luke 13:3).