From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of heaven is near.” – Jesus
Matthew 4:17 (NLT)

So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.”  – Jesus
Luke 22:32 (NLT)

Does it sometimes feel like the Bible, hymns and prayers are written in a foreign language full of churchy words?

Is your understanding of churchy words vague?

Take ‘repent’. What does that mean?

Is repenting about admitting fault? Is it being remorseful? Actually, there’s more to it than feeling sorry.

Thanks to a post by Lucinda Secrest McDowell, I learned that the original Greek word, metanoia, means “to change one’s mind or purpose” or “to change the inner man.”

When we change our mind, we leave one mindset and take up another. We internally replace our purpose with a new one. Visually, we turn away from sin and move toward God.

Repentance is more than acknowledging a sin and being remorseful.

Repentance involves change – or intent to change. Sometimes the change involves physical action, but many times it’s an attitude. It means stopping the sinful behavior and taking up behavior that pleases God. Because we’re human we may repeat the same sin. Jesus anticipated this and told Simon Peter to turn to God (again) and strengthen others.

Isn’t our God awesome to forgive even repeated offenses? He is so very patient, giving His Spirit to guide our thoughts and strengthen us to turn away.

Lent is a season of self-examination and repentance – a time to remember that we are sinners who need the cleansing blood that Jesus shed on the cross. We commit to being better followers by making changes in our lives that lead us closer to God.

How does repentance draw you closer to God?

#SeedsofScripture #repentance #Lent