More About Repentance
Holy means “different or separate.” When we talk about God as holy, what we are saying is that there is some way in which He is not like us.
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More About Repentance
Repentance means to turn around but there is a little more to it than that:
“Two things that every human being absolutely must come to understand are the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man.” —R.C. Sproul
I’m afraid I have some bad news for you. Are you sitting down? Here it is ... God is holy.
That doesn’t sound so bad, does it? I mean, we already knew that about God. We think of God as pure and untainted by sin. But, that’s not really what holy means. Holy means “different or separate.” When we talk about God as holy, what we are saying is that there is some way in which He is not like us.
What is it that makes us different? The truth is that if you are a human, you have sinned. We have all sinned.
Romans 3:23
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
See the problem? Sin is what alienates us from God. He is sinless. We are sinful.
Fortunately, God is aware of our problem and because He wants us to be more like Him, He has gone to extreme lengths to help us. But, there is something standing in the way. There is something that needs to be done on our part. We have to look at ourselves, recognize the problem and say two words. We have to say, “I’m sorry.”
Now, just saying those words isn’t going to fix anything. They are not magic words. We have to actually mean them. That means seeing our sin for what it really is. It is the stuff that steals our joy, robs our future, binds us to our pasts, keeps us from life and separates us from our God. Sin is our enemy.
Once we understand that, we need to repent. We do that by turning away from sin, humbling ourselves before God and confessing our sin to Him.
When we pray those words from our heart - when we say “I’m sorry” to God, something amazing happens. He hears us and we are forgiven. Those two words open up the door of our heart and allow us to pray to God without hindrance and with all our heart.
2 Chronicles 7:13-14
“If ... My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven [and] forgive their sin.”
Repentance is a rejection of sin, a change of heart before Him.
