Repentance

In Matthew 4:17 Jesus proclaims, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand". What is repentance, and why are we commanded to repent? I would dare say that many of us were once at a stage in our lives where we put little consideration into our spiritual life and our walk with God. We possibly believed that God existed and that His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, came and dwelt amongst us and was crucified and ultimately resurrected, but we chose to follow our own desires and neglect the will of God. Does this sound familiar? Well this is all too normal and our Lord Jesus tells us of a beautiful story of the prodigal son found in Luke 15:11. Brothers and sisters the story of the prodigal son is profound and there lies beneath the story a rich theological and spiritual truth that portrays the nature of reality. The story's underlying motive is to teach us about the act of repentance, an act which reflects humility and the desire to let go of all worldly wants and return to a life with God. Assuming we have been baptized, repentance is the key to restoring a broken relationship with the Father, the act of true repentance, which includes tears, remorse, prostrations and the desperation for God to forgive, accept and cleanse us of our sins is an act of humility on our part and brings our Father and the Angels in Heaven great joy. The importance of repentance is further highlighted in Luke 13 1-5, Jesus states that unless we repent, we will all perish. Jesus sternly warns us that if we do not admit our guilt before God and turn to Him, we will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Brothers and sisters, do not think that repentance is God's way of humiliating us or subjecting us to a rule of tyranny, rather He knows that it is for our sake that He calls us to repent, it is purely for our benefit. Let us repent and rid ourselves of the desires of this world, let us kneel before Christ our God and confess our sins and seek forgiveness and new life. When we repent we are admitting to God that we need His love, guidance, strength and forgiveness and that we want to live for Him and accoring to His will. When we seek repentance and it comes from the depth of our hearts, God remembers that His Son died for us and forgives us of our sins and restores us, thus the act of repentance repairs the relationship that we had with God before we chose to abandon Him and chase after worldly pleasures. Like the prodigal son, whom when he comes to his senses decides to go back to his father and ask to work as a hired servant, we too, must humble ourselves in front of the Almighty and admit our wrongs. Furthermore, we must also be willing to forgive those who have sinned against us, which is an act of true humility. Brothers and sisters, if we haven't done so previously, let us fall on our knees and repent to our Lord, let us admit our guilt to Him and allow Him to restore our relationship with Him so that we can begin to live our lives in accordance to His will. Also keep in mind that repentance is not a one time act, we are called to continual repentance as we are constantly finding ourselves entangled in sin, falling into temptation and straying away from the narrow path. God bless.