Have you ever wondered if your repentance was sincere?What if I commit the same sin again?
In this video (3 min), R. W. (Bob) Glenn talks about the two aspects of authentic repentance: sadness at sin and a desire to change life completely.
How do I know if my repentance is genuine?
Repentance covers two things: sadness for sin and the desire for a complete change of life is at the level of the heart. And with this desire for total change of life, there will be fruits to maintain repentance, that is the objective part. So here is the subjective side, the sadness and the desire for a total change of life: the sadness of true repentance is not the sadness of not having reached a certain level, it is not the sadness of not being better than I am; in the sense that I want to be better, so I feel bad, it is not sad that I have broken the commandments, it is not sad that I become a better person, none of this, it is a sadness to see how much I have done it to God His Son. It is the sadness of how I sinned against God, a God who loves me and cares so much for me that He sent his only Son to save me.
Paul speaks of the godly sadness and sadness of the world in 2 Corinthians 7 and said: Godly sorrow produces repentance without repentance. In true repentance, there is a sense of purity that runs to Jesus and not away from Jesus. And the repentance of the world produces death. The best example of this I can think of in the Bible: Peter and Judas. Peter betrays Jesus; Judas betrays Jesus. Peter feels bad for betraying Jesus; Judas feels bad for betraying Jesus. Peter, when he sees Jesus again, jumps out of the boat and swims towards the beach. Judas hangs himself. So what’s going on? In the psychology of these two different types, Peter was very sad that he had sinned against such love, but he knew that Jesus loved him and he swam to the beach! It didn’t take long for the other boys to get to the beach by boat, but he ran, basically, he ran as fast as he could towards Jesus, and Judas went in the opposite direction.
So you have to ask yourself, is it sadness because it cost God, is it because you saddened God?Is it sad that God is sad, or is it just some kind of moral sadness, wishing you were better?So when I see what God has done for me and hurry into Jesus’ arms, I don’t want to do that. But not because I have to be better than that, I have to be further away now, I’ve been a Christian for many years, but because he loves me and accepts me so much that I don’t want to. Why would I sin against such love?
This is what happens internally and is beginning to bear fruit in your life. A real change in these areas of life that need change. But don’t think that because you’re returning to a similar sin, you’ve never necessarily regretted it because you can have the right sadness, the right desire, you can go back to the horse, start moving forward and then fall to the ground. And that doesn’t mean you don’t really regret it. Some people think that’s genuine. Repentance means: Never, ever, ever, never, ever, ever, will I ever do such a thing. You can have sincere regret and start over.
By: R W Glenn. © 2014 Bible Church of the Redeemer. All rights are reserved. Original: R W Glenn Q
Translation: Alan Cristie Review: Vin-cius Musselman Pimentel? Let us return to © Gospel all rights reserved Website: VoltemosAoEvangelho. com Original: How do I know if my repentance is genuine?R. W. (Bob) Glenn
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