Entering Repentance

Repentance is not something that comes from us naturally. But I've been slowly experiencing the power of repentance before God and our neighbors. 

It's not easy: it's embarrassing, it's humiliating, and it's scary.

But it is so worth it. There is forgiveness and there is freedom promised through repentance. And this freedom is something too beautiful not to share. Here we go!

Coming to repentance

"The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9)

The hardest part might be coming to repentance at all. To admit that we need to be forgiven. To admit that we have sinned against Him, and against our neighbors. To admit that we were wrong, or to admit that we've done wrong. 

While I was back home with my family on Christmas break, I was staying in my little sisters' room since there was no other space to sleep in. One morning, I decided to use her phone charger. When my sister found me using her charger, she made an assumption that I unplugged her phone from the charger to charge my phone. She told me "You pulled out my charger from my phone so you could charge your phone, right." And I just instantly got furious! I was mad because she accused me of something I didn't do, and I just thought the way she said it was so mean and rude. I replied angrily, "NO, your phone wasn't plugged in!! STOP talking to me like that!"

And guess what. We were both angry at each other, and this is where the battle began. I knew I should probably say sorry first because I did use her phone charger, but I didn't want to let her win since she did accuse me of something I didn't do. But still, I knew I had to apologize. 

Asking God for forgiveness

But how do we ask God for forgiveness? It's even more difficult to ask God for forgiveness because we try our best to prove our righteousness ourselves so that we DON'T have to ask for forgiveness. Even when we actually do need to be forgiven. 

Back to the story about my sister... I knew I had to apologize, but I didn't know how to. So I prayed. I prayed and asked God for the power to say sorry to my sister. I prayed and asked God to forgive me for my attitude, and asked God to help me repent. 

A few hours after asking God to strengthen my heart and asking for forgiveness from Him, I said to her, "I'm sorry for my attitude and for using your phone charger without your permission. I'm sorry." My sister wouldn't look at me, but she said sorry too. 

Ever since that day, I think my relationship with my sister is a little bit better. We've never been so close, really, and we've never been each others' best friends. But from that day, our relationship seems closer, and I'm amazed by it. I can see that she talks to me more now, and that itself is a blessing from God. 

Here are prayers of repentance from the Bible: the words below are from Psalms 51 which is a part of David's prayer of repentance, and from the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6. 

"Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my iniquities and cleanse me from my sin." (Psalm 51:1-2)  

"And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors." (Matthew 6:12)

God's word is powerful. Let's just read the words above and just meditate on it. Pray it, and ask God for forgiveness. 

God wants to bless us 

"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)

God wants to bless us. He wants us to come boldly to His grace, to enter repentance so that we can obtain mercy and find grace. We need Him because repentance doesn't come from us naturally, neither does mercy nor grace. We need to ask God for these things, so that we may show mercy and grace to our neighbors. Every time we sin, every time we hurt others, we need God's forgiveness. 

I used to be afraid of admitting my faults (and I still often am), but I've been learning that every time I ask God to forgive me, I become free of that sin. I become free from the shame and guilt of the past. I am freed from the bondage of sin. And this experience has really, really encouraged me to pray more at random moments every day. To think of what I've been thinking about, or to think of the words I said to my friends, and to ask God to forgive me if anything seems like it wasn't honoring Him of others. 

There is beauty in repentance because it's God's forgiveness and mercy in action. There is beauty in repentance, not because it makes us feel like a "good" or "humble" person, but because it lets us experience the joy of reconciliation with God. There is beauty in repentance because it turns us away from sin and towards the cross. 

I hope and pray that you will also be able to experience this amazing grace, too. It's scary, but it's so worth it. You'll be missing out on the freedom without it! Jesus has become the mediator between us and God, so that we may boldly come before God and ask God for forgiveness. Jesus bore the punishment that we deserved, so don't be afraid, God wants to bless us!