Repentance: a change of mind, change in the inner man.
3341 metánoia – literally, "a change of mind" ("after-thought"); repentance
A lot is said about the word repentance. My original understanding of repentance mean't that you had to "really mean that you were turning away from sin" and that involved a lot of crying, a lot of pleading God to forgive you and a lot of promising God you would never sin again.
Now, my understanding of repentance has changed. I guess you could say I have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit, after all He is our Counselor and Teacher.
I've mentioned many times that I love the definitions of words. Michael Wells says, "We stand or fall by our definitions." I have found this to be true.
Repentance simply and profoundly means- a change of mind. Not, a turning away but a change of mind. What I found once desirable is no longer- desirable. Why? Because it was from me and not God. I want His desires for me, not mine. Something clicked in my mind, changed.
Repentance is not something that can happen once but many many times. I can change my mind and agree with God and be in harmony with Him. This, my friends, is intimacy with Him.
Godly sorrow, is when our inner man- our spirit (dead to God) has been exposed to the sinlessness and incorruption of God. We become aware of His holiness and purity. We see ourself as we are, apart from God. Not just filled with sin, but SIN. Sin is our very nature. Not just our acts but the core of who we are. He reveals to us that we are born in sin, born a sinner, apart from Him. There's nothing, not one thing, we can do be unsinful, to be unholy, to be impure. We are. Godly sorrow is the pain and grief- of sin. It's a heavy, heart-aching grief. What sin has done to us, in us and through us to others. The results of sin and what it has further produced.
That's where the sinless Savior, and the pure, holy, undefiled blood of the only One that could save us from sin and sins- comes in.
Blood. Death. But risen from the dead to overcome sin, death, the world, temptation, the flesh. To fill us with new life. New inner man- the sinful inner man crucified, dead and buried. A new man- spirit- alive with Life, Christ Himself. Risen to new life!
When we believe in Who Jesus is- "change of mind"- repentance we receive a "change in the inner man"- also repentance.
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.
What leads me to a change of mind and change of inner man, repentance?
Romans 2:4Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
The kindness of God! Not the condemnation. Not the pounding of a pulpit. Not a scare tactic. But the dear, beloved kindness of God! His kindness leads me to change my mind, which leads to His changing my inner man and giving me Himself so that I can live this life- no longer apart from Him but from Him.
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