Repentance Commanded

Peter said, "Repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ..." (Acts 2:38)

Again Peter said, "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out..." (Acts 3:19)

And again, "Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you" (Acts 8:22).

Paul chimes in, "The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent," (Acts 17:30).

Paul again said, "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance" (Acts 26:19-20).

Finally, Jesus said, "Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent" (Rev. 2:5).

And, "Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth" Rev. 2:16).

One more, "I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her ual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit ery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve" (Rev. 2:21-23).

You'll notice that in every one of these passage repentance is something commanded. Repent means change your mind. It means stop thinking one way and begin thinking another way. If I’m on my way to the office and decide to turn left on a street and go a different way, I’ve repented. If I have decided to vote for a certain candidate but on the way to the pole decide to vote for the other guy, I’ve repented. It isn't magic. It is just a change of mind. In the case of spiritual things it means I change my mind from wanting to serve myself to wanting to serve God. More importantly it obedience to a command, an active movement in your mind from your own idolatry to serving the living God. God commands it, we obey it. It involves our whole life, not compartments of our lives. It involves every fiber of our being, not just what we want to "get better."

It also involves humility, we don't care what others will think or do to us, we want Jesus. Nothing in this life will be better for us than Jesus. We give ourselves over to him lock, stock and barrel. It isn't about jumping through hoops or filling in lists. It is about apologizing for thumbing your nose at Christ and abandoning all the gods we've set up in our lives and joining God's forces in Jesus' name.