Make a clean breast of things.

13 He who covers his sins will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy (Proverbs 28).

The true son and daughter of God loves their Father and Lord, and will be troubled by their rebellion against Him. Sin is rebellion against God. He is not just God, but He is our Everlasting Father, Savior, and Lord. A father’s relationship with their child is founded on love. Any rebellion threatens that relationship because it creates a rift. The guilt we feel about sin is innately purposed to restore a broken relationship; it is not meant to destroy our relationship with our Loving Father. Love admits the truth that engenders reconciliation.

“The one who rejects Christ will not make repentance a necessity.” 

18 But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled. 19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the Presence of The Lord. 20 And that He may send Jesus Christ, Who was preached to you before, 21 Who Heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began (Acts 3). 

Is there a remedy for our sin? What is the price we can pay to be reconciled to God? He is Holy and He created us for a relationship with Him. But we can never be holy at all times. He has saddled all our sins on His Beloved Son so that we don’t have to incur the consequence of our sins: which is eternal separation from Him. Christ suffered for our sins so that we wouldn’t have to. So the recourse is Christ. Repentance acknowledges our sin before God, and our need for Christ to live through us. Repent and be converted into the likeness of The Savior, by living in Him, and not on fleshly lusts. Begin by ardently listening and learning about Who He is and who you are. Repentance must be accompanied by a conversion or transformation, that becomes a new, daily lifestyle.

To be converted, we must be trained in righteousness by abiding in the Presence of The Lord—in a perpetual fellowship with Him. Times of refreshing are times when we can bask in the ambience of the Presence of our Father and Lord, in communion with Him, without shame or guilt. When we are reconciled to our Lord, His Mercy, Grace and Love comfort us with peace. Peace with God gives us peace within. We repent so that we are converted in Christ. We come boldly to receive Mercy because we believe that we will be forgiven in Christ. We confess and turn away from our sins so that we can spend all our days in the joy of His Presence. 

“Sin is rebellion against God.”

1 Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Your Lovingkindness; According to the multitude of Your tender Mercies, blot out my transgressions. 2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 3 For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is always before me. 4 Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight—that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge (Psalm 51).

Repentance is humbly imploring God to forgive us, while we come clean about our sin. We plead for His Mercy even as we admit that He is well within His right to judge us according to the sin. We repent so that we will not repeat the offense. We must first be forthright about what we have done or failed to do. Forgiveness is granted when we are truthful. Against God and He only have we sinned because we don’t live by anyone else’s standards. God forgives us according to the multitude of His Mercies and not according to the multitude of our sins. He will wash us thoroughly with His Grace and will not remind us of our sins. When He sets us free, we are free indeed. 

“Forgiveness is granted when we are truthful.”

40 Let us search out and examine our ways, and turn back to The Lord. 41 Let us lift our hearts and hands to God in Heaven (Lamentations 3).

We sin by doing what is evil in His sight. We might think our sin is just a “small sin” but sin is abominable in the sight of The Holy One. He is Merciful to those who understand Who He is. He must judge sin because He is God; whether we like to admit it or not, God does not brook or wink at our sin. Everyone will come before the judgment seat of God and will give account of their ways; whether they do it now or later, they will bow before Him and confess. We should repent daily because we want to be righteous, and continue in an unbroken relationship with God our Father. 

16 For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. 18 Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the Name of God’s One and Only Son. 19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. 20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed (John 3). 

Whoever does not believe that Christ came to die on their behalf will not accept God’s Love and Mercy. The one who rejects Christ will not make repentance a necessity. Christ died so that He could save us through Himself. The penalty for sin is death. In order to receive Grace, we must come to the light so that our deeds are exposed. We must allow God to show us our sin, and be earnest to be saved through Christ. 

Those who are condemned are not the ones who repent, but the ones who have rebuffed God’s One and Only Son, Who takes away their sins. They have denied the truth about their sin: by not coming to the light, they embrace their rebellious ways. But God loved the world so much that He wanted to offer all of us, sinners, a new life in Christ—eternal life. There’s hell and there’s eternal life in Christ. You must make your choice. Eternal life is life that begins here on Earth by exchanging our sinful nature for Christ’s Nature.

1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God…10 For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to Salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death (2 Corinthians 7). 

Godly sorrow is brought on by the heaviness of guilt and shame because of our sin. It gravitates us to The Mercy Seat for forgiveness. Godly sorrow causes us to grieve over our sin, and even be repulsed by it. We find hope in God’s promises that reassure us of His Love and Mercy, when we repent. 

Worldly sorrow leads to guilt and shame, with no hope of forgiveness and reconciliation. It enshrouds us with darkness, hopelessness, and loneliness. Beloved, as one loved by God, be cleansed from all filthiness of flesh and inner passions by learning to fear God. Holiness is nurtured by fearing God. Fear of God should cause us to steer away from the unclean, and want to be cleansed of it. Fear of God should not cause us to hide from Him. Godly sorrow should lead us to repentance that restores and renews us by His Grace.

“We repent so that we are converted in Christ.”

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, Who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5).

When we repent and ask The Lord to forgive us, He gives us a new nature; we become a new creation in Him. This is only if we are willing to turn away from sin and be saved through Him. We become completely new. The old nature is done away with because we now abide in Christ. His Spirit becomes our new nature. His Spirit becomes our guide, and access to God. Now all things are of God; our identity, roles, responsibilities, and passions become patterned after God’s Ways. 

Repentance reconciles us to God, Who was already reconciling us to Himself. He initiated it all through Christ. God’s intention was not to consume us with wrath because of His displeasure for our sins. No, He was reconciling the world to Himself. He was willing to completely wipe the slate clean and start over our relationship with Him. So why is it that so many have turned their backs on Him, and spurned His Kindness and Love? Because rather than see His Love, they focus on their iniquities; yet He is calling them to be reconciled and not imputing all their sin to them. He has not meted to us what we deserve. He is still reaching out with Grace. But when the clock runs out, He will be justified to deal with sinners who have opted out of His Son’s offer. 

16 “The people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and upon those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.” 17 From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4).

Blessed are those who were in the darkness of sin and saw the light that drew them to repentance. Blessed are those, who, in the heaviness of their guilt, came to the light, saw their sin for what it was, and understood the Power of God’s Grace to make them new and whole. They were enlightened and the light was the hope of their Salvation. So repent and don’t wallow in the shadow of death, but see The Great Light, The Lord Jesus, who drives out the darkness. 

12 Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. 13 Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. 14  Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer (Psalm 19).

We don’t know how much we have offended God and how. So we repent by asking Him to cleanse us of all sin, whether we know of it or not. We should not be so enslaved to sin that we can never break free. When we desire to be righteous and blameless before God, we submit to Him to show us the error of our ways. Sin is not just what we do; it is what we feel, desire and meditate on. It is also what we say. So we confess our words, thoughts and actions so that we remain in God’s good graces. He is our strength to motivate us and our Redeemer, Who continually forgives us.

For any relationship to last there must be love, honesty, loyalty and honor. We learn about God and we begin to do what pleases Him. Our Heavenly Father and Lord created us for a relationship with Him. If we love Him, we will allow Him to reveal to us our sin. We will be truthful and sorrowful about what we have failed to do, and repent. God wants us to be reconciled to Him. In Christ, we are forgiven and converted. He makes us a new creation in Him. We resolve and commit to be acceptable before God through daily repentance and obedience. His Spirit becomes our new nature. He will continue to teach us and bring us into The Presence of The Holy One, Our Savior and Redeemer. Fellowship with God is a companionship that should never be broken. Our relationship with Him guarantees us eternal life in Christ. 

“We repent so that we will not repeat the offense.”

5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us ((1 John 1).