REPENTANCE IS A GIFT

Jesus told them, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.”  (Luke 24:46-47 NIV)

Repenting of our sin is never despairing of our sin; it is always done in hope. Guilt may be an important stop on the journey, but it is never meant as the end of the line. We get our car checked by a mechanic, not so we can blame the car, but so it can get fixed.

Repenting is a gift God gives us for our own sake, not His. Repenting does not increase God’s desire to be with us. It increases our capacity to be with Him….

-- John Ortberg in “The Me I Want to Be”

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