Repentance in Christianity: It’s More Than an Apology
- Sienna Krieg
- Sep 23
- 3 min read
Whenever I heard the word ‘repent,’ I used to get uncomfortable.
I suppose I had this notion that people would scream at me to repent, or else I would go to hell.
I also used to think that God was an angry God before I got saved.
That may be how you view repentance and the Lord as well.
However, consider this: repentance is more than just saying ‘sorry’.
As I’ve continued on my walk with Jesus, I’ve learned that repentance is necessary and actually relieving to the soul.
Repentance isn’t berating yourself for what you’ve done.
It’s realizing that you are a broken human being in need of God’s love and mercy.
It’s having the strength to lay all of your sins and burdens down at God’s feet.
You might have heard this statement before: “Come as you are, but don’t stay as you are.”
That is precisely how our relationships are with Jesus.
Jesus will never turn away from us and our sins, but as we grow with Him and repent, we must change.
Repentance doesn’t mean simply saying “sorry God!” and moving on with your day.
It means grieving over the sin you have been struggling with and being completely open to God about it.
It means praying about it for however long you need.
You must realize that the sin you have committed isn’t good for you, and more importantly, for God.
Search for ‘repentance’ on Google, and the definition is literally sincere regret and remorse.
You must truly regret your sin to repent.
Sin isn’t a control mechanism for us; the things considered as sins are genuinely bad for us.
They aren’t there for no reason, you know.
I’ve struggled with this A LOT.
There are times when I sin, and I try to ‘repent’, and then about an hour later, I’ll go back to the same old sin.
God knows everything about us; He knows our innermost thoughts and feelings.
We must pray to Him for pure hearts and pure intentions to repent.
We cannot repeatedly abuse His grace.
I read an excellent book called “Jesus Is…” by Judah Smith, in which he discusses how we need to take our relationship with Him seriously.
Sinning is cheating on the Lord; it is devoting our time to Satan/worldly things rather than Heaven.
The Lord has a jealous love for us.
This isn’t meant to make us feel trapped; it’s meant to make us feel loved and protected.
He knows that when we sin, we fall into lies, complete with meaninglessness.
We must stay on the straight, narrow path with Jesus.
That means we must seriously repent!
So rather than just apologizing to God, we must change our ways and remember what He has done for us.
Remembrance of Him keeps us from sinning.
That way, when temptation arises, we will be reminded of God and how much better He is for us.
Then, we will choose Him and His ways!
As James 1 3–4 says, we must endure in faithfulness.
If we have enough faith in Jesus, we can overcome temptation and sin.
And if we don’t, we can pray to God for it (James 1 5–8).
So, repentance isn’t necessary to make you feel worthless in God’s eyes.
It actually makes you even more worthy in God’s eyes because you are showing humility and submission to Him.
Next time we repent, brothers and sisters, let’s remember to move patiently through our apologies/regrets and truly change our ways.
God bless you all.
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