"King David messed up and had made the wrong choices and went the wrong direction. When he was called on it he repented and followed The Lord. A broken and contrite spirit is what God desires. We don't stop trying with God. We learn from our mistakes and do our best to not repeat the same things."
Repentance is a touchy subject for some these days. People either ignore it all together or have the wrong idea about it. Repentance really is a good word. Without it we would have no relationship with God. In fact "Repent" is the first word of the gospel (good news) of the Kingdom of God.
Simply put repentance starts when we change our minds and turn away from our direction and go God's direction. That is why it is the first word in the gospel of the Kingdom; if you are going to Heaven you have to turn from the course you are on.
Some people say you only have to repent once and after that you don't have to repent any more. I can understand why they would think this since Jesus blood cleanses us from all of our sin. The problem is that after we are saved we still war with the flesh and sometimes we make the wrong choices and sin. We still have to change our minds from the sinful state and turn from what we are doing and go God's direction.
In 1 John 1:9 it says that if we confess our sins God is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That won't happen unless we repent. We will stay dirty unless we go to God and confess. It is shameful and we feel guilty but God is so loving that he welcomes us as the father did the Prodigal son. He wants us to come to Him! And that bad feeling is actually a good thing. If you don't feel bad that you sinned you may end up doing it again. But if you feel bad about sin you probably will want to stay away from anything that would cause you to sin again. The Bible tells us that godly sorrow leads to repentance and to eternal life. That is what we want.
Take some time and confess your sin to God. Get his heart and His direction. Don't give up because you messed up. Keep going with God!
Do you see any other examples of repentance in the Bible? How do these examples speak to us today?
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