Required Repentance

Repentance is one of the requirements of belief.  Without repentance, true belief is impossible.  In many ways, repentance is the first step in belief.  Repentance is best defined as turning away from something and towards something else.  In spiritual terms, repentance means turning from sin to holiness, from flesh to spirit, and ultimately, from self to God.  Simply put, repentance is about truly facing God at the downplay of self.  It is a two-part process: turning from our self and turning towards Him.

God rejoices at repentance.  At the end of the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus reminds us that God takes great joy at the sincere repentance of sinners (Luke 15:7).  When repentance happens, the repentant see themselves in light of God's holiness.  The focus is not on the repentant person but on the holiness of the Lord.  This is a joyous experience.

Although repentance can happen in one bursting moment, there are stages to repentance.  First is realization; the person recognizes their own shortfalls and missteps.  This is analysis done in reaction to the revelation of God's holiness.  When we truly see our sin in light of God' perfection, the value of who we are is weighed against the value of Christ.  Without fail, we cannot compare to the worth of Christ so when we honestly see the uselessness of our righteousness it prompts us to the next step: facing God.

In facing God, we come before the Lord acknowledging that we are sinners and incapable of any righteousness apart from Him.  Thus, we turn to Him as the source of our righteousness.  This is repentance.  To add to this, when we turn to God, we expect Him to cleanse and save us from ourselves. This is the most profound stage and purpose of repentance, belief.  Repentance is useless if the One who we repent towards is not able and faithful.  Yet God in His infinite mercy and desire for us to draw near Him is always faithful.

Both Isaiah and Ezekiel touch on this, that God will provide and care for those who repent from their wickedness (Isa. 55:7; Eze. 18:21).  There is a promise built into repentance that is only fulfilled upon repentance's follow through.  It is not enough to merely assess and confirm one's wickedness.  True repentance requires that the repentant turn in faith to God.

Repentance is the impetus for belief and salvation but it is also not a one-time use action.  Instead, repentance is intimately tied in the lifelong, ongoing process of sanctification.  If we are not in a near constant state of repentance that propels us to greater levels of devotion and relationship, then we are not being sanctified, or at least not being sanctified enough.

Instead, the Christian should never feel comfortable with their state of sanctification but should rather be always striving for greater, more, and deeper levels of devotion to God.  We should be focused and energized to continually repent of that which inhibits our fidelity to the Lord.  In this, we will be serving and praising the Lord with our very lives.