Repentance - It’s not what you think it is
I say, “Repentance means to change your mind,” and you say, “Yes, about sin. Therefore repentance means to stop sinning.” But I say, “No. Repentance is much more than that, much deeper,” and your eyes glaze over because you have already decided you know what it is.
What you have done is to fit the word “repentance” into your already existing paradigm. It is a transformational concept that you have not allowed to transform you. However you phrase it, you have decided that your main reason for being is to be sinless, or sin less, and that is all repentance will ever mean to you: “Knock it off!”
Your repentance leads to a life of trying. What I’m suggesting is that if you really understood what repentance is, you might have a shot at real freedom from sin.
So, again, I say to you simply, repentance means to change your mind.
Let me restate it: Repentance means to transform your mind: “...but be transformed by the renewal of your mind” (Romans 12:2). This is a broad mandate, but here I want to show you specifically how this relates to human behavior. We still think too much like earthbound humans. We do not see things from a spiritual perspective. We don’t see what is in front of us the same way God does. Some call it a kingdom perspective.
First, it is important to understand that we act out of who we are. Or to put it another way, we act out of what we believe. This is what James is really talking about when he writes, “Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works” (2:18). He means that his faith, his beliefs about the world and the kingdom, lead him to act. You see, if you claim to have a real, actual, relationship with God, you will act in a way that is consistent with that. If you do not act, it proves that you do not have that kind of faith.
The remedy is not to go out and do good deeds. That would be a lie; you’re faking it. The remedy is to find that transformation of your mind that will make you the kind of person who does those deeds. And that is how you overcome sin as well.
If you do things that you know you shouldn’t do, or have been told you shouldn’t do, then somewhere deep down inside, you believe that activity has a value. You are likely trying to try to balance the value of that thing with the value you see in God, and the battle ensues.
Consider that the idea that you can balance these things is false.
If you change your mind about trying to balance, it changes everything. You don’t repent of the sin, per se, you repent of the idea that you can balance that activity with your relationship with God. Once you truly let go of the false idea that you can balance your Self and God, everything changes. You begin to transform your thinking, and then your outcomes follow.
What you have to come to grips with is that no one deliberately does things they think are bad, so whatever you are doing, on some level, you think it is good. You may say gossip is bad, but then why do you talk about people behind their backs? Because it makes you feel superior. So the “good” is the gratification you get from being able to represent yourself as better than the person you are talking about. If you can recognize that you are feeding your ego and that is not “good,” then you transform your idea of gossip from a good thing to a bad thing. You will begin to extinguish the desire to gossip, because you no longer see any value in it.
This is it. Transformation.
This is how you overcome. Any attempt to directly change a behavior, is just symptom relief. Even if you could control the behavior, you haven’t solved the problem in the heart. Let God work on your heart. Then, only allowing God to change your mind will lead to real changes in behavior. I would even argue that if you succeeded in changing the behavior without changing your heart and mind is dangerous, because it leaves you with the disease (sin), without any signs to tell you you have a problem.
You must dig into your heart of hearts to find what the false value is (others have called them idols). What benefit do you think you derive from putting people down, looking at pornography, fighting to get what you want, etc? We can make an endless list of “sins,” but it’s where they come from that matters. What benefit do you think you might derive from that activity? Especially, unconsciously?
Think about the drug addict. He knows the danger, but he does it anyway. Why? One scenario might be to avoid pain. He thinks that facing his demons, perhaps from his past, is scarier than the side effects of the drugs. He gets a high, which he values, but also gets to avoid the pain of confronting his demons. That’s the false belief. The truth is that, while confronting demons is painful, overcoming them leads to peace. If he can transform his thinking to believe that facing his fears is better, then he can proceed. It must begin with a new way of thinking.
I use drugs an example because I think it makes a clear lesson, but this is not about drugs. This is about all of our behaviors that don’t line up. You must find the false belief. You must realize that it is harmful, not valuable. Even if it seems a good things, you must realize that it keeps you from a better thing.
So: You do value something more than or above Him. Figure out what it is. Understand that it is not good, or not as good as the right thing. When the “sinful” thing is not valuable to you, it diminishes. You are allowing Him to transform your mind.
Paul says, “...and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:4). What he’s saying is that you must be totally dedicated to Him and His kingdom. You cannot carve out a little space of your own to indulge in from time to time. The only “me” time in the kingdom is that which rejuvenates you to live better for him. Everything must be evaluated by this rule: “Love God with your whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.” If you can’t do it for God, it has to go.
Repent: Let that transform your mind. Peace awaits.
What helped me understand these concepts (repenting & sin) is when I really understood what Justification (Regeneration), Sanctification and Glorification were. These are the 3 stages of our Spiritual lives. Repentance starts with an inner conviction that what we are doing is wrong. This is the Holy Spirits role. In John 16:8 Jesus said “And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.” The Spirit convicts us of our wrong doings, and then the next step for us is repentance. Repentance is a true and sincere regret, it is a state of being remorseful and contrite about how we have sinned against God, and being truly sorrowful for the wrong and unrighteous things we have done against God. When the Spirit calls us, and when we truly repent to God and ask him to forgive us of our sins and we ask God to come into our lives and forgive us, it is then at that exact moment where we are regenerated, we are born spiritually and we receive Christ’s payment for our sins and we are instantly “Justified” and we are made right and just in God’s eyes. When we first repented to God it produced the result of Justification and regeneration spiritually. After that event, we begin the process of Sanctification, where repentance for our sins to God is not for salvation, but it is a part of our growth process where we become more like Christ – which is what your article is speaking to - I think we need clarification between these two separate processes and events. Sanctification is the ever present, ongoing struggle of the believer to become more like the image of Christ each day. It is this struggle that Paul spoke of where he said of himself “the Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak”. During the process of Sanctification, we grow in our faith, we learn, and we renew our minds and our behaviors and in so doing we begin to form Christ like virtues in our lives. The byproduct is the elimination of our sinful habits. It is during this process where we create spiritual disciplines in our lives to help us stay on course or as Paul said “fight the good fight”. But we need to understand that this process will not ever be completed here on this earth. The real freedom from sin you spoke of will only achieved when we eventually receive our new bodies in the next life and we are Glorified with our new sinless bodies that God Gives us (1 Cor 15:50-55). In the meantime what we are called to do is work on this process in the here and now. As we experience sanctification (holiness) the sins in our life will continue to be more and more restrained, and we will see real behavioral transformation in our lives which will be evident to those around us. When we begin to lose spiritual focus, and we begin to move away from God, we will see our old behaviors/sins creep back into our lives and we will slide backwards spiritually. The sanctification process is an up and down journey, and this process does require some work and effort on our part – it is not just a state of mind. Paul in many passages spoke about the Christian life in regards to athletics and uses terms like “run the race”, “competing according to the rules”, “fight the good fight”. Sanctification is difficult, it is a constant struggle to be more like Christ until we breathe our last breath, but unfortunately we are stuck in these sinful human vessels. Attaining true freedom from sin here in this life is simply not attainable, but I believe sin in our life can be restrained in such a way that the Spirit begins to control our flesh more and more. The good news is that our reward at the end is our eventual Glorification – where God rewards us with a new body, and then at that moment we will forever and ever truly be free from sin.
ReplyDeletePete,
ReplyDeleteSince you’re the only one who ever responds: Thanks!
First, I’m still sticking with my original definition of repentance because I think it transforms this whole conversation. Repentance is to change (transform) your mind. (Caveat: You don’t do it; God does.) It’s not specifically to change your thinking about sin. It is a new understanding of everything: a Kingdom understanding. Once you come into agreement with His perspective, the truth, then the things you call sin, no longer make sense. Sin loses its grip because underlying causes/motivations for sin.
I think everything you said about “struggling against sin” completely changes with this new perspective. I’m not at all suggesting that it is instantaneous and that “sin” just goes away. The transformation is a process, but underneath it all, if you are struggling with sin, that’s all you will ever do until you change your understanding.
To that end, repentance is intertwined with sin, just not in the way that you think. Repentance from sin does not mean to stop sinning, or try to stop sinning. It means that your mind is transformed and that turns you away from sin. It’s two sides of the same coin. You change your mind; you turn away from sin. When you see the Kingdom; the “world” loses it’s grip.
Why am I going on about this? I wholeheartedly disagree with any idea that my life is about resisting sin. That’s not the call. We certainly need to cooperate with God as he transforms us, but it is mostly his job. In the discipleship series we are going through, it asks the question, “To what degree have you felt responsible for your own growth?” I said 25%, although it’s probably less. Besides, we don’t struggle with sin, we let him take it (as we realize the truth about it). The point is that is not our mission.
His mission is to transform us. Our mission is the to make disciples. I cannot speak to “fight the good fight,” but I am sure that “run the race” is not about your behavior or sin. The race is about saving others. That’s a key mistake most Christians make; running according to the rules, the discipline, etc. are all about spreading the kingdom. That’s why Paul says, “All things are lawful, but not all things are beneficial.” Beneficial to what? To your goals. But your goal is to spread the kingdom.
That’s another transformation. One of the big reasons that your behavior changes is that you want to reach your goal, you want to behave in a way that will promote the kingdom.