Repentence

Woodrow Kroll's broadcast of Back to the Bible recently had an excellent review on the issue of repentance from the book of Judges. You can find the broadcast Here.

In this study of Judges 10, we find the Israelites once again falling away from God and into sin and in need of repentance (the paramount theme in the book of Judges). I've often wondered in my own life what it truly means to repent. Repentance is more than being and saying sorry for my sin - repentance needs to involve a complete change in my mind and life from sin. Kroll has an excellent 7 point list on repentance in this study:

1. Repentance always goes beyond regret.
2. Repentance goes beyond saying you're sorry.
3. Repentance comes from brokenness, meaning being so broken over your sin that you truly never want to do it again.
4. Repentance recognizes that you sin against God. This is key - as David said in Psalm 51:4, "against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight".
5. Repentance never tries to dictate the terms of the repentance. You leave it up to God's plan of restoration and correction.
6. Repentance never retaliates.
7. Repentance is real when life change is evident. Meaning - true repentance isn't repenting of a sin, and then turning around and doing it again right away. True repentance shows a true change in one's life.

I write this as one who has struggled with repentance for many of my sins, not only in completing it correctly, but following through with it. I've probably struggled to complete many of these steps when repenting of sin. However, I found this broadcast to be very helpful in clarifying both the need for constant, daily repentance in my life, as well as understanding what repentance truly is and truly entails.