what is repentance? here ya go simply put, to turn aeay from the things you are aware of that are sin. not only to pretend but to stop doing that. Heres one example
A man is having an affair on His wife has been for a year, He comes to Christ Hearing the Gospel, and in His heart now that He believes in God, He sees that adultery is sin. if He repents it means He will break off the affair, and go confess to His wife, and rid Himself of the Guilt and then ask God for forgiveness and to cleanse Him from unrighteousness. thats a good example of repentance.
i think i know where you are going " changong of the mind" but heres the thing if he continues the affair yet says hes repented in His mind its just a lie another sin and another and another as He continues. when we come to Jesus we now are in a relationship its you, Jesus the mediator, and God the Father. Jesus is seated at Gods right Hand as our advocate, the very one who died for our sins is there pleading and interceeding between God and us. Because Jesus died to pay for our sins, if He forgives us, God will always accept us as clean. Jesus though commands repentance meaning as you come into that relationship and recieve the spirit.
now one of the spirits roles is to convict us of sin, not condemn us for sin, but convict us of our guilt and not for our past sins, but for the things were continuing in. the holy spirit will bring those things to us and Godly sorrow will cause the prompting to reoent. its amazing How you can be consumned with guilt over an ongoing sin, and when you truly stop doing it that guilt is like it was never there.
Jesus death doesnt mean now we can sin guilt free, it means now we can repent and be forgiven of everything weve ever done. as we do this the spirit will then bring another thing to heart , and then another and pretty soon a person can examine thier lives and its hard to find an obvious sin to repent of and you will notice those things that used to be to strong and we really could try and never really rid our lives of, lose thier grip on us after just a short while you ee that same thing as an evil that thing that used to not bother you to do, now its something that has no appeal no pull you actually learn to hate those things you used to partake of without Guilt and even enjoy.
repentance isnt what it seems, when you set your mind and heart to live riht and pray always for God to give you repentance to bring those things to your conscience, rather than what it seems from one side as a hard and joyless thing to do to give up that sin you enjoy, but from the other side when you act in faith and stop the action through the Knowledge of Jesus Christ......it brings far more peace and Joy and true real freedom from that thing that used to be chained to you. its not a one time thing as our knowledge increases, so does our repentance sooner or later those obvious sins are gone and little things begin popping up and the more you do this and experience its truth the easier it becomes and you actually begin wanting to find flaws and get rid of them, your heart becomes one after Gods will, His ways when you see Just how true His promises are and that it really is possible to repent and act in righteousness. im not sure anyone will ever be a finished work, but its important to Know its personal between you, Jesus and God the Father. you are only accountable to repent of the things you know are sin. so i cant judge you, you cant judge me but both of us have our relationship with God through Christ Jesus.
its about being able to abide in the word and keep your conscience clear and not have to skip over all the behavioral stuff in the word, a greedy man needs to start giving, a lustful man needs to turn His eyes away from sexual things, a vain person needs to become Humble, a violent man needs to become a peacemaker on and on. and it is absolutely poissible and within our Grasp to change, Jesus has already made it possible by the spirit in us thats Gods Nature living in us and the power to truly repent. changing the mind has to be first and that happens when people stop pretending repentance isnt rewuired and stop pretending Sin isnt a big deal. sorrow comes when you get that Jesus died because of your sin. How can one who Loves Jesus feel comfortable when they are continuing on in what placed the suffering on Him?
