Hey Drew,

When I was reading your last letter one word seemed to jump off the page at me. That word was “repent”. It reminded me of an old man with an even older beard who used to walk up and down our High Street with a board that had written on it “Repent, and prepare to meet thy doom”. He was a figure of fun and I don’t think anyone took him seriously. He looked like one of those Old Testament prophets full of doom and gloom. Are you saying that he was right? What does it mean to repent? Isn’t it one of those old-fashioned words that has no meaning today?

Jack,

It’s funny (interesting) that “repent” conjures this picture in your mind, that of an old man with an even older beard, because I think there are several words in the English language that could use redeeming. That is, the words could use returning to their original meaning and sense, and lay aside their contemporary connotations. For example, the word “gay.” This word meant “happy” for the longest time and then the 20th century rolls around and its meaning changes. I, personally, like the word “gay” and wouldn’t mind it returning to its original usage. Anyways, I think “repent” is one such word that could use a little explaining, thus the below:

Immediately when I saw that your email was about repentance, I began to think about the books I have and the quotes I know that treat of repentance, and then I realized: Why don’t I just be real and honest, and share with you my thoughts and perception of repentance as its presented in the Bible?

Surprisingly enough, your Olde Man Repentance with the beard might not be that far wrong, because when I think about repentance I think of the prophets in the Bible whose job it was to be God’s spokesmen. Many times, this entailed calling the people of Israel to repentance. God rescued them from harsh slavery, but yet they made gods out of gold and rock to worship instead of the God that had delivered them. Consequently, God send them wake up calls in the form of prophets.

At the onset here, it’s important to recognize that the hearts of people are idol factories (thanks to John Calvin for that phrase). This means that since we humans were made to worship (God), if we don’t worship God, we will make an idol to worship. Straightforward enough, right? My idol can be me. My idol can be nature. My idol can be soccer. If we don’t worship God, we will worship an idol, because we were made to worship (God).

Repentance entails two parts. First, turning from idols; forsaking them; leaving them in the desert to die. And second, turning towards God. It follows that if you turn from something, you have to turn towards something. A perfect example of this comes from being in high school. I remember walking to class, not paying attention to where I was going, and I would walk right past the room where my class was. What I had to do was turn around and go back to my class. I had to turn away from walking further down the hallway, and turn towards my classroom. Similarly, while we are seemingly “content” in worshiping our idols that we have fashioned for ourselves, God is calling everyone everywhere to turn away from their idols and turn towards him (i.e., repent), because only with him are we truly content. Why? Because we were made to worship him.

Furthermore, repentance is both a doctrine, or belief, and an action. We believe that our sin is harmful (not hard to see) and we turn towards God. Turning towards God is not simply a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but a continual, day-by-day action, whereby we deny our sinful desires and seek to live a life pleasing to God through love towards him and mankind. There’s a classic book by Thomas Watson entitled The Doctrine of Repentance in which he shows what genuine repentance consists of: disgust of sin and finding pleasure in God. This book along with the Bible have helped me tremendously in trying to live out God’s call to repentance, the daily giving up of sinful pursuits and the daily action to love God and my neighbors.

Just to be sure I answer your question clearly: Repentance is turning around. A change of direction. Turning from requires turning towards.