Episode #160 The Beautiful Truth About Repentance – Significant Stories

Hey friends, it's Jen and welcome to another episode of Good God Talks. I'm so grateful to spend these few minutes with you as we all draw near to God together. And today we're continuing in our series on significant stories. And we're looking at false narratives, lies, lesser stories that we've believed about God and therefore about ourselves, and we're asking God to speak his truth into those circumstances. And today I want to talk with you about some of the lies that we've been told, and maybe even believed, about repentance.

Now, when you hear me say that word “repentance,” if you feel yourself shrinking back, or hesitating, or feeling uncomfortable in any way, that's a really good indicator that you've been told a lesser story about repentance.
Now, the word "repentance" in the original language in Greek, is metanoia, which means to change your mind.

Repentance literally means to think again and choose a different course. Now, if that's a new concept to you, or if you've heard this before, either way, don't ditch this episode. There's more insight that I think God wants to give you on this topic. And I'm not necessarily saying what's coming out of my mouth, but out of the conversation that he wants to have with you.

Okay. We're all still here, right?

So, metanoia, to change your mind.

If you picture this, picture yourself walking down a road and then realizing this is not the road I want to be on. And so you about face and you go the other direction. That is repentance. Now, depending on how you grew up, repentance might've been represented to you as something different.

Maybe repentance was simply apologizing, but saying I'm sorry and repenting, those are two different things.

Maybe repentance was represented to you as needing to feel really bad about what you did. You couldn't be forgiven. You couldn't be reinstated unless you showed a certain amount of remorse. That's also not repentance.

I know for me, the lesser story and the lies that I believed about God included this faulty perspective that I thought I had to pay penance for my poor choices before God wanted me to come back and be close to him again. I would do things that I thought he would want me to do. I'd do stuff to help other people. I work hard. I'd give myself chores, even as a kid, trying to earn back some brownie points with the Lord, hoping that that would make it okay for me to come back to him. That was part of my process of “repentance,” and that is not true. Nowhere do we see that in scripture.

One of the other false stories that I believed about God was that God called me to repentance harshly, angrily, cruelly. I want to read for us Romans 2:4. Which speaks specifically to this false story.

“Don't you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can't you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin.” (Romans 2:4 NLT)

That's from the New Living Translation. Or as it says in the ESV, “that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance.”

Now, already in this episode, we talked about the meaning of the word repentance. I also want to take a quick minute to look at the meaning of the word kindness. And in the very last episode, we talked about how the original false story spread by the enemy about God was to call into question his goodness, to accuse him to Adam and Eve as not actually being good and withholding something that was good for them.

I find that interesting because this word “kindness” here, “his kindness leads us to repentance” in the original Greek it's also translated “goodness.” His integrity, his moral goodness, his gentleness, his kindness…leads us to repentance.

I misunderstood that about God. I really thought that God was condemning me. And so I pictured him as this angry ruler, lording over me when I made mistakes. I pictured him withdrawing from me and making me earn back grace that I could never earn to begin with. I didn't realize that it was his kindness, his goodness that draws us to think again, to change our minds and to choose a different course.

These lies about repentance can come up in all sorts of ways. Maybe you can relate to some of the lies that I've shared with you from my own life.

Or maybe there are other things that the enemy has tried to accuse God about or accuse you about when it comes to thinking again and turning back to him.

Even in the course of this episode, we're getting the opportunity to repent, and it doesn't have to be a heavy thing. We don't have to beat ourselves up for ways that we've been misled before or misunderstandings we have about God. We can simply think again and choose differently. And so that's our question that we get to go to God with today.

God, when it comes to repentance, what can I think again and choose differently about?

Or said another way:

God, when it comes to repentance, what can I repent of?

Even as I recorded this episode, there were things that God brought to mind that I can repent of. It's a good thing that he offers to us in kindness. So don't hesitate. Don't hold back. Go to God with this topic and have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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