Repentance means much more than weeping over sin. It means more than turning from our sin to follow God. In fact, if we were to be technical, turning from sin to God is more the result of true repentance than it is the actual act. Repentance means you change your way of thinking. And it is only in changing the way we think that we can discover the focus of Jesus’ ministry which is the existence, the nature, the power and the authority of the Kingdom of God.
When we speak of the Kingdom of God we are not talking about some kind of heavenly mandate to have a happy life and think happy thoughts. No. Obeying this command to repent is only possible for those who surrender to the grace of God. Because, you see, the renewed mind is the result of a surrendered heart. And only the renewed mind can “see” the Kingdom of God (John 3:3).
Often, repentance is defined as doing an about-face, a 180 degree turn around. Therefore, implication to most Christians is simply one that would state that one was pursuing one direction in life and then one repents to pursue another direction. But as I said, there is more to it than that.
The Bible talks about repentance like this:
Hebrews 6:1 (New King James Version)
1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, (Emphasis mine)
“Repentance from dead works . . . faith toward God.” It would appear that faith is both the crown and the enabler of repentance. We cannot preach this often enough or loud enough. Hidden sin is a great weakness of the Church in this hour. It has kept us from the piety and purity that in turn breeds boldness and great faith. Yet, as noble as the message of repentance is, the message has not been adequately and thoroughly emphasized in the modern church. But God has not given up. He wants to do more than get us out of the red by forgiving our sin; He wants to get us into the black by changing our thinking!
Repentance is not complete until it envisions His Kingdom by faith! This represents a huge paradigm shift for most Christians who have been saved and then trained in the traditional church. And many in the traditional church are not ready to make this shift. Are you? Do you really want to see the Kingdom of God? If you do, then how far are you willing to go with repentance? Are you willing to really renew your mind? If you are then you must surrender your heart – completely. Because, you see, the renewed mind is the result of a surrendered heart.
Tags: faith, Kingdom of God, mind, renew, repentance, see