“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out” (Acts 3:19).
The Bible underscores repentance again and again. However, genuine repentance is one of the most neglected and forgotten Bible teachings.
The Greek word for repent used in the verse above has the idea of thinking differently or reconsidering. This is similar to a dictionary definition of the English word repent: “To feel such regret over some past action as to change one’s mind.”
These definitions speak, not so much of being sorry, as of a change of mind or intentions. Genuine repentance is being sorry enough for sin to ask forgiveness and then, through the power of God’s Holy Spirit, to change one’s mind about sin and to do differently.
Genuine repentance has evidences or fruits people can see:
RESTITUTION. Restitution involves making wrongs right. The truly repentant person will apologize for wrongs he has done to others. The one who has stolen will steal no more. The liar will go back to those he has lied to and tell the truth. Restitution involves, as much as possible, restoring broken relationships with other people.
REFORMATION. Repentance always brings a change of action. If it doesn’t, then it is not real repentance. Reformation alone will not make a person fit for heaven. Repentance must come first, or reformation is a useless whitewashing with no change on the inside.
The truly repentant and reformed person will show by his life that God controls him. The Bible says, “For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good” (Luke 6:43, 45).
DETERMINATION. When we have truly repented, we will possess an inner urge to do right and shun the wrong. We will be driven by a zeal to do what is right. “Be zealous therefore, and repent” (Revelation 3:19).
Repentance is essential to salvation. The Christian must ever be ready to confess his faults, make wrongs right as far as possible, and bear the fruits of repentance.
“The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:17).