Are You Born Again When You Repent
Photo By Ben White
What is repentance? Do Christians need to repent? When was the final fourth dimension you repented?
As believers, we know that Jesus calls people who take even so to believe in Him (Matthew four:17) and Christians to repent when they take fallen away from Him (Revelation 2:5; two:16; 2:21; 3:3; 3:19).
And yet, repentance seems like a rather unpleasant matter that we take to coerce ourselves to do. It's like taking bitter medicine when we are ill. We don't desire to take it but forcefulness information technology downwardly our throats anyway, because we know it's supposed to be good for us.
I used to think of repentance in this style, until I realized what repentance really is. In a nutshell, it involves these three things: Recognition of our sin, renunciation of our sin and returning to God.
The more than I came to understand what repentance really is, the more than I realized that information technology is, in fact, a wonderful souvenir by God to us. Hither are some reasons why.
1. Repentance lets God restore, forgive and purify us
I used to feel unworthy of God's forgiveness when I barbarous into sin. I'd think, "I'yard already a Christian and yet I'one thousand still disappointing and failing God in this way. How can I nevertheless expect Him to forgive me?"
Thankfully, God bodacious me past reminding me of this truth: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and merely and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" (one John 1:9).
Since then, I've made it a signal to confess my sins earlier God no affair how "unworthy" or "unclean" I might feel, knowing that He will forgive me my sins and purify me, so that I will be righteous before Him once again.
Just as God reached out to us before we came to know Him, He is still reaching out to us and calling the states to return to Him today if we've fallen in sin: "Render to Me, and I will render to you" (Zechariah 1:three, Malachi 3:7). God promises to restore us when we apologize of our sins (Jeremiah fifteen:xix).
2. Repentance helps us to be humble
I find that when I take trouble repenting, it'southward oft because I have pride issues in my life. Pride is spiritual blindness that causes us to think our standards are better than God'due south standards.
The reverse of pride is humility, and one definition of it, which I really like, says, "Humility means agreeing with the truth." Perhaps that is why Paul says that repentance leads us to know the truth and so that we can come up to our senses (ii Timothy 2:25-26). When I apologize and learn to agree with the truth of God's standards of righteousness and sin, I am growing in humility.
God values humility; He shows favor to those who are humble, only He opposes and mocks those who are proud (Proverbs 3:34, James 4:six). And so permit'southward be quick to repent, so that nosotros may grow in humility and receive and enjoy God's favor.
iii. Repentance drives the devil abroad from u.s.a.
During the times when I was willfully disobeying God, I found it and then much harder to believe God's truths. Instead, the voices of guilt, dubiousness, fear and condemnation would ring a lot louder in my heart. Thoughts like, "God doesn't beloved you anymore," "You've really diddled it this time. God won't requite you a second chance," and "God has given upwards on you now" would proceed harassing me, giving me no peace.
But when I repented and returned to God, these deceptive whispers of the enemy would start to fade and I'd be more than able to perceive and receive the truths of God again.
The Bible tells usa, "Submit yourselves . . . to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James four:7). In this verse, submission to God means washing our hands and purifying our hearts from sin and double-mindedness (James 4:8).
When we sin, nosotros're actually giving the devil permission to depict nigh to usa, for "[t]he 1 who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the starting time" (ane John 3:eight). The enemy is close to those who does what he does (John viii:44). And when he is near us, he "comes just to steal and impale and destroy" (John x:x).
When nosotros submit to God by repenting, we're proclaiming that we vest to God and nosotros tin can fight against the devil and his evil influences in our lives.
4. Repentance frees us from the torment of sin
I've found this to be true in my life. When I insisted on my own sinful means, the one who suffered the most was me. Although sin may feel good, it ultimately hurts more than than information technology seems to promise.
And when I wasn't willing to confess my sins to God and others due to pride and shame, I found myself continuing in my sins considering the devil had gained a foothold in my life to ensnare me in the darkness. It's only when I brought these sins into the light by confessing them to people I trusted, that those sins started to lose their ability to further deceive and hurt me.
I'm thankful that God gives united states confession and repentance as the ways by which nosotros can receive His mercy. Because Jesus is our peachy high priest who is always interceding for us before God (Hebrews 4:14; seven:25), nosotros can "approach God'south throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).
The Bible gives the states this promise: "Repent, then, and turn to God, and then that your sins may exist wiped out, that times of refreshing may come up from the Lord" (Acts 3:19). If we practice not apologize, we will not be able to receive help and relief from the torment of sin.
5. Repentance leads united states of america to fullness of life with Jesus
Sin will lead to spiritual expiry. God'due south Give-and-take tells united states plainly that "the wages of sin is death" (Romans half-dozen:23) and Jesus said, "unless you repent, you also volition all perish" (Luke 13:three). On the contrary, repentance leads to life (Acts 11:18) and salvation (two Corinthians 7:x).
Ultimately, when we repent, nosotros are inviting Jesus to have fellowship with us. After urging Christians to "be earnest and apologize," Jesus said, "Here I am! I stand up at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come up in and eat with that person, and they with Me" (Revelation 3:19-20).
The immeasurable joy of having intimate fellowship with God is what Jesus won for u.s. through His decease and resurrection, so that nosotros "may have life, and take it to the full" (John 10:10). It certainly beats the deceptive and fleeting "joy" of any kind of sin by whatsoever measure!
Eternity doesn't start when we go to heaven. Information technology starts right now with having fullness of life with God, and repentance allows us to have that.
Would you repent daily to depict near to God today?
Also Read:
Source: https://ymi.today/2017/01/5-reasons-you-should-repent-again-and-again/