Repentance: A Different Perspective

It's interesting how often repentance is taught as changing a negative behavior in response to sorrow, regret, or even guilt. I have even heard repentance identified as a military term related to doing an about face or 180 degree turn from the direction you were walking. Therefore, to repent is to stop doing a sinful action or walking an evil path and start doing good or turning around and walking toward God.

A traditional understanding of repentance

These are accurate and appropriate understandings of repentance. However, the Greek word for repentance in the New Testament is "metanoia" which means to change the way you think. This idea has literally transformed my faith in the past 6 months. For instance, if a Christian believes that he is not spiritual or holy enough to be considered a saint he must repent of his thinking because the Bible teaches us that we are not only saints but sons and daughters of the King! It is amazing to realize how many lies I have been believing about God, my identity, and Christianity. I have had to repent of many faulty ways of thinking about the goodness of God, my nature, and especially my call to be a world changer through the power of the Holy Spirit. I encourage you to ask God whether you are currently believing lies in any areas of your life. If He shows you something, repent of that thought and start believing the truth. It will draw you closer to the heart of the Father!

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. II Corinthians 10:5