To repent brings freedom from guilt
I’ve talked to a lot of Christians who are walking around with so much guilt from their sins, from things they did years ago, and they’re still feeling guilty and shame over these things. Or maybe the shame comes from things that people did to them.They need to learn what it really means to repent.
Jesus came to show us how to live a guilt free life, and that’s my hope for you as well.
So here’s one of the questions I get when, when I work with people who are kind of carrying around this burden of guilt and shame. They want to know, “Well, okay, I’m supposed to repent, but what does it really mean to repent?” That’s really a great question.
To repent doesn’t just mean to say you’re sorry and regret and feel remorse for what you did and try to do better the next time. It goes a lot deeper than that. Now, that may be an important first step in the process, but there’s so much more to it.
The Greek word in the New Testament “to repent” is metanoia. Now, I’m not a Greek scholar, so I may be pronouncing that incorrectly, but that’s the way I’ve heard a lot of people say it, metanoia. It means to think again, to re-think.
To repent means to look from a spiritual perspective
Jesus wanted us to look at things from a completely different perspective, a more spiritual perspective. In fact. That’s the way he started his ministry. He came on the scene boldly and he said, “Hey, guys, I’ve got great news. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. In order to participate in that and see it and live in that, you have to repent. You have to change the way you think. You have to look at things from a completely different perspective.”
We still don’t believe Jesus when he says, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. We still think it’s way off in the future somewhere after we die. But he said, “No, no, no, the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Later on, he says, “The kingdom of God is within you.”
That’s a very different starting point, a very different perspective to realize that God’s kingdom is here right now. You just can’t see it with your eyeballs. You can’t touch it and feel it and smell it, but it’s here spiritually. Just kind of like the radio waves are in the room or the satellite waves from the satellites are in the room.
You can’t hear those things unless you turn on the radio or unless you open your phone. Then you can hear the message or watch the video, whatever it is. But all those signals are in the air right now. You just can’t see them.
That’s a little bit of a metaphor for what the kingdom of heaven is like. It’s here, but we need to kind of turn on our “spiritual radio.” You might say we need to tune in spiritually to the fact that God’s kingdom is here. Then you’ll be able to participate in it and start to experience some of the blessings of God’s kingdom.
What it means to repent
To repent, to truly repent… Once you start acknowledging and bearing witness to God, God’s kingdom. And you can find it in all kinds of little ways, just in the smile of a child, or the smile of a person on the street, or the way the sunlight hits the daffodils in the spring, or any little action of kindness. That’s the kingdom of heaven shining through.
Anytime you see genuine love expressed, that’s the kingdom of heaven. Start noticing those things. That love of God and his kingdom are here all the time. Sometimes they just get covered up.
Once you start seeing that that’s what’s really going on spiritually and that you want to be part of that, and that even if you’re not aware of it, really you are part of that. That’s what changes you from the inside out. And you don’t want to do all those things that you used to do.
You can’t carry around the guilt anymore and the shame, or do the same things that you used to do, make the same mistakes, commit the same sins. Because you’re looking at things from a very different perspective.
For example, let’s say you were addicted to eating five pieces of chocolate cake every day. Now, that’s kind of a ridiculous example, but that’s really not appropriate. There’s something there that you think is going to solve the problem, and it never does.
To repent means to see things from what’s true in heaven right now
Whatever sin you commit, it’s always because you think it’s going to give you something or help you escape from something.
In the kingdom of heaven, you already are satisfied. You already have everything you need. You already feel loved, you already feel part of God’s family. And so you don’t need to do something else, something external to make you feel part of things or to make you feel like you’re going to escape from the misery that you’re feeling.
So start looking through the lens of: the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and all of a sudden you’re going to start seeing who you are, what’s true about you right now in the kingdom of heaven, and you’ll start seeing yourself less as a miserable sinner and more as God’s child made in his image and likeness.
Now, that’s probably not what you thought I was going to say in answer to the question, what does it really mean to repent? But these are things I’d like you to think about. Start looking at things from the perspective of what is true in the kingdom of heaven right now, about any situation, about some other person, and about yourself.
Photo Credit: Dalelan Anderson
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James Early, the Jesus Mindset Coach, is a Bible teacher, speaker, and church mentor. He conducts Bible workshops online and in person. His focus is on getting back to the original Christianity of Jesus by learning to think, pray, and love like Jesus. Contact him here.
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