True Repentance

“Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it. Test and prove yourselves [not Christ]. Do you not yourselves realize and know [thoroughly by an ever-increasing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you--unless you are [counterfeits] disapproved on trial and rejected” (2 Corinthians 13:5)?

Are you bearing fruit?

When we give our lives to Christ, He is looking for fruit in our lives as the evidence of who is Lord of our lives. Bearing fruit shows that we have had a heart change. True repentance is allowing the Holy Spirit to have control over our lives. Many people have prayed the “sinner’s prayer”, but show no fruit in their lives as evidence of true repentance. Jesus warns us that many people (who do not repent) think they are going to Heaven, but they find out otherwise when they die.

“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter” (Matthew 7:21).

Matthew 7:13 says, “Enter through the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and spacious and broad is the way that leads away to destruction, and many are those who are entering through it”.

Many times we feel sorry or remorseful for the sins that we commit. We can feel regret, shame, guilt or even sorrow. Wrongdoing brings regret, but if a person just stops there, it is not true repentance. It is possible to feel true regret for the sin in our lives and not truly repent. Repentance is a supernatural change of mind and heart concerning the sin in our lives.

- Have you experienced a true heart change that affects the way you think, act and live?

- Do you continue to look at your past and wonder what you are missing?

- Are you waiting to tie up the loose ends in your life before you truly start living for Jesus?

- Were you once committed to following Jesus, but somewhere along the way you got sidetracked?

You must forsake and say goodbye to your past once and for all.

Once we give our lives to Christ, we are to walk towards Him and never look back. It’s not always easy and comfortable to follow Him. You may even be criticized by friends or family who think that you are being “too radical” in your walk with Jesus. Following Christ is to be our first priority and commitment above everything else in this life. You have to lose your life before you will find true life. “For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for Me will find it.” (Matthew 16:25).

Jesus, I pray that you show me the true condition of my heart. Help me to completely say goodbye to my past and never look back. Help me to die to my past and hate any sin that I have been involved in. Thank You, Holy Spirit, for giving me the power to change. True life is only found in You! I am committed to losing my life so that I can find true life in You.

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