Repentance

 

The Gospel begins with a call to repentance. Repentance means that everything must be changed. What was up must go down, and what was down must come up. Everything must be seen as God sees it. Our whole being has to be renewed; all thinking of our own has to cease. God must become the center of our thinking and feeling.

Jesus Christ came to save people, but he first called them to repent and follow him. Many Christians are attracted by his promise of salvation, but they do not want to repent fully. It is tragic that the worst enemies of Jesus are often religious people, not unbelievers. Even in Jesus’ own lifetime, those who hated him most were not the soldiers who crucified him, but the very religious Pharisees and scribes, who hated his message of repentance.

When John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, he called people to repent – to change their hearts and minds. He certainly did not flatter those (Mt. 3:7-8) who came to him. He plainly told them how far they were from God. It was not only John the Baptist who spoke of repentance. Jesus himself did, from his first teachings in the Bible to his last.

People dislike John the Baptist’s call, “Repent, for the (Mt. 3:2) kingdom of heaven is at hand,” because they do not understand what repentance means. Repentance does not mean self-torment; nor does it mean being judged by others. It means turning away from the corruption and mammonism of fallen humankind and letting our hearts be moved by the atmosphere of the kingdom of God. Anyone who has gone through true repentance knows that it makes the heart melt like wax, that it shocks us by showing us our sinfulness. But that should not be the central experience. God must be the center of a repentant heart –God, who was revealed at the cross as love, and who alone brings reconciliation.

 All of us must undergo difficult and painful times of repentance. I plead with you to accept it, not as punishment but as grace, and I beg you not to torment yourself but to understand that Christ wants to make you free. 

If we trust in Jesus and the power of his death, we will find forgiveness for our sins, however evil we are or were. But we must not play with his goodness. He will judge every sin, every compromise we make with the devil. For instance, he warns us so strongly against immorality that he says we should not even glance lustfully at a woman. Let us accept his sharpness.

 There are times in every person’s life when God comes close. There are also such times or hours of God for each church. According to the Book of Revelation, (Rev. 2-3) Jesus spoke from heaven through John to the seven churches, telling each what it had to recognize and why it had to repent, though also encouraging it. That was surely an important hour of God for these churches.

 God is infinitely good. Once he has come to a person, he may come a second, third, fourth, or even a fifth time, but he also may not. It is up to us whether we listen to him.

However strong our will to control ourselves, and however deceptive we are, God sees through everything into the depth of our hearts. Only the act of putting ourselves under his light gives us a chance for renewal. Everything is possible if we put ourselves willingly under the light of God. But if we refuse to do this, everything in our life is in danger.

 It is one of the most wonderful things when a person truly repents. God comes so close to a repentant soul! A heart of stone becomes a heart of flesh, and every emotion, thought, and feeling changes. A person’s entire outlook changes when the gift of repentance is given to him.

We must receive a new life; we must be changed. But it is God who must change us. And he may change us in a different way from what we had wanted or imagined. Our own ideals – our own plans for inner growth or personal change – must come to an end. Every lofty position must be given up; every high human striving sacrificed. To be fit for God’s new future we must be changed by him.

 I am sure that Jesus can give you a completely pure heart and perfect peace. At first, the closer you come to him the more you will feel judged by your sin, but in the end you will find deep joy and peace. Your seeking for God should not make life a torment. He sees that you seek him with a sincere heart. I wish you hope and courage.

 Remorse opens the heart to God. The experience itself is very painful, but later you will look back on it with gratefulness as a light in your past. Repentance does not mean that you should grovel in your sin but that your heart should be softened toward God and those around you.

 I long for you to find true repentance, because it is the only hope for you in your struggle against bitterness. There is no heart so hard that God cannot touch it and melt it. I know this because there is not one of us who has not once hardened his heart against God. If only you could experience his great longing and burning love for you and for each one of us! Then you would let everything that separates you from this great love be torn away from you, however painful it might be.

 God’s love is like water: it seeks the lowest place. Yet we cannot make ourselves humble and lowly in our own strength. We can see ourselves for what we (1 Cor. 4:13) are – “filth and off-scourings” – only in the light of God’s omnipotence, love, purity, and truth.

Once we see the darkness of sin and the horror of separation from God, we can feel something of what Jesus means by repentance. Yet repentance means more than recognizing our sin; it means turning toward the kingdom of God. It also means being ready to run around the world in order to undo all the wrong we have done – even though we know we cannot undo anything. Finally, it means giving ourselves to Him who gives forgiveness and freedom from sin.

 I am grateful that you recognize your sin, but I plead with you to stop thinking about yourself, your past, and your depression. You will only become more depressed. That is not repentance. Think of your inner being as a clear pond that mirrors the sun, the stars, and the moon. If you stir up the mud at the bottom, everything will become unclear and cloudy, and the more you stir it, the cloudier it will get. Become quiet and stand firm against the devil. Then the water will clear again, and you will see in its mirror Christ’s love to you and to the whole world.