Welcome to another day the Lord has made that we should rejoice and be glad in. (Psalms 118:24)

Today we will explore embracing repentance.

Paul wrote to the believers in Corinth in 2 Corinthians 7:8‭-‬10 (NLT)…
I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while. Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way. For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.

And 2 Peter 3:9 (NLT) says…
The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

Consider…
Yesterday we disected disobedience, to better understand what’s required to live a life of complete obedience. However, like the Apostle Paul, we struggle with sin. In Romans 7:15 (ERV)
he wrote…
I don’t understand why I act the way I do. I don’t do the good I want to do, and I do the evil I hate.

And the Prophet Jeremiah wrote…
“The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?” – Jeremiah 17:9 NLT

Yet, we know like David, who said…
For I am conscious of my transgressions and I acknowledge them; My sin is always before me. – Psalms 51:3 AMP

So although we desire to be completely obedient to God, it’s impossible to do it on our own. Why is that? Does God expect or require too much of us? Paul answered both questions in Romans 7:14 (NLT), which explains…
So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.

Yet, God tells us in Romans 6:10‭-‬11 (ERV)…
Yes, when Christ died, he died to defeat the power of sin one time—enough for all time. He now has a new life, and his new life is with God. In the same way, you should see yourselves as being dead to the power of sin and alive for God through Christ Jesus.

So scripture says we were slaves to sin, but it’s power died with Jesus on the Cross. Therefore, sin no longer has power over us when we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior.

Which leads to today’s object of our embrace, repentance.

For a long time I misunderstood repentance as turning from sin and returning to God. However, in writing this, the Holy Spirit showed me there’s a distinction between repenting and turning.

He led me to Matthew 3:1‭-‬2 (NLT), which reads…
In those days John the Baptist came to the Judean wilderness and began preaching. His message was, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

Notice it shows repenting and turning as two separate actions.

So I asked God for wisdom on what it means to repent. Here’s what He showed me in my Google search, to repent means to rearrange your entire way of thinking, feeling and being in order to forsake that which is wrong.

Wow, that blew and unlocked my mind! 🤯. We have to change the way we think before we can change what we do. It’s like the sisters of En Vogue sang, free your mind and the rest will follow.

So that means, when Jesus took the baton of preaching repentance from John the Baptist, in Matthew 4:17 NLT, He was continuing His cousin’s exhortation to rearrange our entire thinking about our sins so that we could turn to God.

It’s not a coincidence that Jesus preached repentance before He offered salvation. That’s because He knew that until we recognized that we were wrong in sin, we couldn’t be made right in Him. Romans 6:20 (ERV) explains it this way…
In the past you were slaves to sin, and you did not even think about doing right.

This is where the Holy Spirit comes in to save the day. Jesus, speaking about the Holy Spirit, said…
And He, when He comes, will convict the world about [the guilt of] sin [and the need for a Savior], and about righteousness, and about judgment: about sin [and the true nature of it], because they do not believe in Me [and My message]; about righteousness [personal integrity and godly character], because I am going to My Father and you will no longer see Me; about judgment [the certainty of it], because the ruler of this world (Satan) has been judged and condemned. – John 16:8‭-‬11 AMP

It’s the Holy Spirit who rearranges our thinking to realize that we’re sinners in need of a Savior to escape ultimate judgement.

By the way, do you see the parallel of the Holy Spirit’s convictions and Jesus and His cousin’s message?

• Jesus and John said repent (rearrange your thoughts) of sin, and the Holy Spirit convicts the world about the guilt of sin and the need for a Savior.
• Jesus and John said turn to God, and the Holy Spirit convicts the world to seek His righteousness.
• Jesus and John said that the Kingdom of Heaven is near, which means the judgement that Holy Spirit convicts us of is near.

God’s message never changes, it just is re-emphasized with different words.

That said, the Holy Spirit convicting us emphasizes that we need His help to win the battle of sin in our minds. That’s why Paul wrote in Galatians 5:16‭-‬17 (ERV)…
So I tell you, live the way the Spirit leads you. Then you will not do the evil things your sinful self wants. The sinful self wants what is against the Spirit, and the Spirit wants what is against the sinful self. They are always fighting against each other, so that you don’t do what you really want to do.

The power of sin is dead, when we rearrange our lives (thinking) to be Spirit led.

Today the Holy Spirit wants us to understand that…
Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. –
Galatians 5:24 NLT

That means when we accepted Christ, we willingly sacrificed our old sinful way of thinking for Him, just like He sacrificed His life for us.

Furthermore, He reminds us, in Ephesians 4:22‭-‬24 (ERV)…
You were taught to leave your old self. This means that you must stop living the evil way you lived before. That old self gets worse and worse, because people are fooled by the evil they want to do. You must be made new in your hearts and in your thinking. Be that new person who was made to be like God, truly good and pleasing to him.

Here we’re told, it’s not enough to just abandon the old, we must be rearranged to be true to the new.

The Holy Spirit re-emphasizes this in Romans 12:2 (ERV), which exhorts…
Don’t change yourselves to be like the people of this world, but let God change you inside with a new way of thinking. Then you will be able to understand and accept what God wants for you. You will be able to know what is good and pleasing to him and what is perfect.

So today’s encouragement is to embrace the Holy Spirit as he helps us to repent from sin, (rearrang our thoughts), and turn us back to God.

Bonus thought…

We have to change our perception (repent) before we can change our direction (seek God)

Today’s song is…
Rearrange Me
https://youtu.be/nHkcTPLGNUw?si=MCTwjby4BPgRUHMA

Blessings 4HG (1 Corinthians 10:31)