What is 'true repentance'?

Most of us are familiar with the term repentance and with its meaning. There are many explanations for the term repentance. But I believe that ‘true repentance’ is something much more than repentance and of course there is difference between both of them.

The common definitions or what we normally meant by repentance is a decision made by a person not to sin again and trying the best to escape from that sin. Some believe it as being guilty and sad for the sins committed and some other think it as washing the sins with the blood of Jesus or word of God. There are also people who believe it as confessing the sin committed to God or to an elder in the church and to ask him to pray for you. For another, it is asking apology to God or human being to whom which we committed the sin. By dictionary it can be also defined as feeling remorse, contrition, or self-reproach for what one has done or failed to do; be contrite.

All these are true. But still there is a thing much great than all these, which God expect from us on repenting. It can be also mentioned as a fruit of repentance, for it is a result of repentance. A repentance which produces this fruit is called true repentance. Then ‘what is true repentance?’

According to me, ‘true repentance for a sin is an act of human being to turn away from that sin and to come back to Jesus Christ by stop committing that sin again.’ Decisions, confessions, cleansing and all are just a part. It can again lead that person to sin. This true repentance is not just a decision not to sin, but it is an act in which we do not commit that sin again and this is what God expect from us on repenting. Otherwise an option for committing sins will be always remain with solutions as confessing sins, deciding again and also cleansing again with the blood of Jesus and so on. An inner meaning of this true repentance is that, if we committed the sin for which we repented once, it cannot be called as a true repentance.

In these days people always fail to make true repentance. In bible we can see this nature in the life of people who repented. We can see David repented for his sin of committing adultery with Bathsheba and he never committed such a sin again. In the story of parable of lost son, the son repented for leaving his father and for leading a immoral life and after his repentance, he never went back again to that sins. Zacchaeus repented for his sin of collecting more money from taxes and he never committed the sin again. The woman who was caught on committing adultery repented and never went to commit the sin again. Apostle Paul repented for persecuting the church and he never went back to persecute the church again.

We can see all these people repented not just by mere decisions or by washing them with the blood of Jesus and confessing their sins. Decisions are necessary to perform an act and cleansing with the blood of Jesus and the confession of sins are also good. But beyond all these, the act is important, which is not to go to commit the sin again.

You should also aware of the reason for which such repentance is very important. It is because, in God whom there is no sin and no darkness is Holy and Holy. Sin is very bad and ugly in the eyes of this Holy God. Man who lives in this sinful world may he okay with sins. But God can never tolerate sins and he cannot left the sins so simple and unnoticed.

By this answer some of you may think about the impossibility to stop committing sins without the help of God. I will try my best to provide answer for that question in some of the next posts. May God bless all of you with this answer.