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For a long time, I thought that to repent meant that I had to lie on the floor and beg forgiveness from God for something I’d done wrong. Then, a while ago, I discovered it meant to change your mind and have gone with that, but as I was reading Revelations chapters 2 & 3, Where Jesus is sending messages to the seven churches, I felt that it is more than just saying “Oh well, I was wrong about that.”
Today I looked it up and this is what I found;
1/ Feel or express sincere regret or remorse about one’s wrongdoing or sin. (Archaic – feel regret or penitence about).
2/ A summons to a personal, absolute and ultimate unconditional surrender to God as Sovereign.
3/ To turn from sin and dedicate oneself to the amendment of one’s life. (To feel regret or contrition).
4/ To feel deep sorrow
5/ To be very sorry for something bad you have done in the past and wish that you had not done it. Cambridge Dictionary
6/ Reviewing one’s actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs, which is accompanied by commitment to and actual actions that show and prove a change for the better.
7/ ‘In the Old Testament, two Hebrew words help us understand repentance. The first is the word nacham, which means to turn around or to change the mind. The second is the word sub. It is used over 600 times in the Old Testament and is translated by such words as “turn,” “return,” “seek,” “restore.” …….In the new Testament ‘there is one word you need to know – the Greek word metanoia, which literally means “to change the mind.”’ Christianity.com
One example given in Cambridge Dictionary is like this; Since a person’s repentance requires that she realize that she personally has offended, nothing lacking a first-person perspective could possibly repent. Of course, this applies to both men and women, this was just an example.
So, as I understand it, the meaning of repent is; To sincerely, and deeply regret that you have done something you shouldn’t have, (or not done something you should have), and consequently change your mind and therefore your behaviour in future. After all, if you deeply regret something, you will not want to repeat the same thing again, would you? And where God is concerned, we can be sure we have offended him, because we fall so far short of the standard he set.
On a positive note, Read the promises given to those who change their ways and stand firm in their faith at the end of each of Jesus' talk to the seven churches.
This is how I understand my God.
Read for yourself, see what you think.