Articles
Righteous Repentance
A parent just got their dream car, and later that day his teenager starts to play basketball in the driveway. The parent warns the teen to be careful of the car because it is brand new. Ten minutes after starting, she runs inside saying, “Sorry dad, don’t be mad, but the ball went out of control and made a small dent in the hood of the car.” The parent thinks, “Well, it is not ideal but I can take a rubber mallet and pound out the dent, all is forgiven.” Happily, the teen runs outside to start playing again. Fifteen minutes later she runs back in, “Dad my arms got tired, so I went to relax in the car and when I got up I noticed the seat was all dirty. I didn’t mean to, I promise.” Her dad looked slightly annoyed, but then he relaxed and said, “I have to work on the hood anyway, might as well clean the inside too. All is forgiven.” She grins and runs back outside. Soon after, the daughter goes back to the dad and sheepishly explains, “I tried to move the car out of the way so I wouldn’t dent the hood. When I did, I hit the mail box. It’s broken and so is the taillight.” As the parent, how forgiving do you think you would be as the day progressed, let alone by its end? As the teenager, how do you think you would feel as you approached your parent?
In Luke 17:3-4, Jesus tells his disciples, “Pay attention to yourselves! If your brother sins, rebuke him, and if he repents, forgive him, and if he sins against you seven times in the day, and turns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent’ you must forgive him.” If a person sins against us once it can be hard to forgive them, let alone if they repeated the sin seven times in a day. By even the second repeat we might even be tempted to doubt the genuineness of the other person’s repentance. People can only see the actions of others, however, God can see to the most inner depths of the heart (1 Sam. 16:4-7). Since forgiveness and repentance are matters of the heart, children of God should rely on His understanding and not their own. Jesus and Stephen are the only two people in the Bible to pray for God to forgive the people who were killing them (Luke 23:34, Acts 7:54-60). Jesus was, the son of God and Stephen was a man whose heart was filled with the Holy Spirit.
Similar to Stephen, children of God who get baptized will be blessed with the Holy Spirit (John 1:32-33). Forgiving and repenting in a righteous manner can only be done if we turn to the King of Righteousness Himself. Proverbs 3:5-6 states, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Forgiveness is seeing the soul above the limitations and evil deeds. Repentance is accepting the consequences of our actions by not making excuses or passing them off, and trying to make amends in the ways we can—regardless of being forgiven. Whether we are the ones forgiving or repenting, God is the one with the ability to properly guide our hearts to have the right motivation. God can see your heart, will you trust Him to help you be forgiven of your trespasses and forgive your trespassers?
