Godly Repentance

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death. 2 Corinthians 7:10

The repentance called for throughout the Bible is a summon to a personal, absolute and ultimate unconditional surrender to God as Sovereign. Though it includes sorrow and regret for particular sins, it is more than that. It is a change of mind that involves a conscious turning away from wrong actions, attitudes and thoughts that are not aligned with God’s word. It requires a change in perspective and paradigm, how we view and interpret the events of the world around us. True repentance is looking at life from God’s perspective.

Genuine or godly repentance is an abstract concept in the Church today, yet it was one of the strongest themes in Christ’s ministry on earth. Overtime I have understood why, I have learned that genuine repentance is not a one-time event, it is a process. It is a process that cannot be well defined because it is initiated and completed by God.

Ungodly repentance

There is a sort of repentance that does not produce long lasting fruit, this could be for a number of reasons, but primarily it is because the real heart issues remain unresolved. Jesus told a certain parable that holds the key to many of a Christians experiences regarding repentance. In fact he told the disciples this parable is so important that if they don’t understand it they will not be able to understand all the other parables or the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven

“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is the word of God..Those on the rocky ground are the ones who receive the word with joy when they hear it, but they have no root. They believe for a while, but in the time of testing they fall away. Luke 8:11

Jesus talked about receiving the word with Joy, but believing for a while. From these verses we can deduce that unbelieve is the primary reason people are unable to maintain a position of repentance. Mathew also describes in detail why they have no root “when persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away..the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word”.

The bible describes the processes of the word of God taking root in us and compares it to the journey of a seed scattered by a farmer, the surface it is thrown onto is a metaphor that describes our hearts i.e. along the path, the thorns, and good soil.

The parable also teaches us a very important theme in the bible, when persecution, not if persecution comes because of the word i.e. every word of God also comes with persecution and tests of two types. The worries of this life (problems) and the deceitfulness of wealth (success)

The key to passing the test is found in the last verse of this parable

And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.

The prerequisites for maintaining a position of repentance, through the word apart from the ability to cling to the word, can be summed up in two words, a pure heart and endurance. A good and pure heart is the good soil that the word of God thrives in and becomes effective.

This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” Mathew 13:23