Repentance and Forgiveness | Anita Mathias: Dreaming Beneath the Spires

Mark 1:4

Blog Through the Bible Project

And so John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Repentance. Changer la vie in French probably gives as better idea of what it means, or metanoia in koine Greek, changing one’s soul

What is so tricky about repentance is that it is not a doing word, like fasting or giving. It is an interior thing, a matter of changing one’s thinking and one’s emotions.

Often the sheer repetitiveness of our sins so tires us, that the repentance tires us too. Oh no, here I go again, I am sorry, Lord, the chocolate, the laziness, the sharp-tongued barb.

And so we grow dulled to our sin.

I like what Augustine wrote in the Confessions, “I would sacrifice to Thee the service of my thought and tongue; do Thou give me, what I may offer Thee. “ I would repent, Lord; help me to repent.

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If we could easily change our lives, and live purer, more Christ-like lives, we would have done so.

And that is why the coming of the Holy Spirit to us who are weary and heavy-laden, and feel powerless to do all the good things we know we should do is such good news.

Come Lord Jesus. Come, Holy Spirit. We fail in love and unselfishness. We fail to such an extent, that we even fail to feel our sin. Come, help us to see ourselves as you see us, in truth and mercy.

Help us to repent.