What is – and What isn’t – Repentance?

 “If you ask God to take you back without [repentance], you are really asking Him to let you go back without going back. It cannot happen.”

Those above words are that of C.S. Lewis from his book Mere Christianity. Here, Lewis is writing what repentance is not. By not repenting of sins, the person is actually saying that he or she does not need Jesus. By living an unrepentant life, this person is saying that he or she is fine with the way things are. This may seem fine and good today, but what about tomorrow?

Satan has a way of fooling all of us. Satan isn’t just a cartoonish figure. He is real and we are living in his kingdom. When things are going well, we often like to just pat ourselves on the back and say, “I’ve done a good job,” instead of saying a prayer of thanksgiving to God. Satan fools us into thinking that “I am personally pro-life, but I think...”, or “I would like to tithe, but I need…”

When Jesus was asked about why there was so much suffering in the world (Luke 13:1-5), He replied saying: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

During the season of Lent, we hear a lot about repentance, but to be honest, repentance is not just something Christians do during Lent, this is actually the daily life of any Christian. So, what exactly is repentance? Repentance is turning away from sin – all those thoughts, things spoken, and things done against God’s command – to faith in Jesus and His forgiveness. Repentance is not just attending a Sunday church service by going through the motions with the singing, standing, sitting, and praying. Repentance is much more than that. Repentance is actually hearing and reading God’s inerrant Word as revealed in the Holy Bible as Christ’s Words become our words. Repentance is not just an hour on a Sunday morning. Repentance is life.

Now, the repentant life is never easy, especially since our sinful nature, the world, and Satan are constantly trying to deceive us. It is difficult to admit that we are sorry for our sins and surrender our lives to God. No human being enjoys eating humble pie, when we know we are wrong, or have fled astray. We must all remember that God is God and we are not. His ways are not our ways. Although how weird God’s ways may be, His ways are always perfect.

Human reason could never fathom God the Father sending His only begotten Son to suffer and die in our place in order to bring us back to Him. It took Jesus, who is fully God and fully human to atone for all of our sins. Any ordinary human, that is, a sinful human, could never atone for humanity’s sin. Only a sinless human would suffice. This sinless Man would be baptized with a sinners’ baptism, so all sinners could partake in His sacrificial suffering and death, so that through our baptism into Christ, we would receive Christ’s blessings of forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. However, the Christian life does not stop there. The Christian life continues as we live a life of repentance. Satan does not admit defeat at the very moment a Christian is adopted by the triune God at baptism, he tries harder. Satan constantly seeds doubt and fear as he entices us to sin, and often, we fall into his trap. Satan thinks he has us. But we are not doomed as long as we daily repent and return to God. It is through turning away from sin and back to faith in Jesus that we have no doubt about our salvation.