When a person obeys God’s commandments, they become connected with God’s infinite will and wisdom.
A hidden truth is that the act of repentance allows a person’s eyes to be open so that it is even possible for them to be obedient and keep God’s commandments. That is the promise of the New Covenant, to change a person’s heart to serve God. You start by making a mental decision not to get entangled in the things of this world. Then create an evaluation of where you are (your list) and prioritize what it is you want to work on. The key to repentance is to recognize that you need assistance from above. Without help from God, you are fighting an uphill battle all alone. God wants you to win this battle, and He will give you the strength to overcome it.
Wisdom: The Potential Of What Is
The word wisdom in Hebrew is Chochma which can be translated to “the potential of what is”. Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom …” That would mean your potential starts with the fear of the Lord. To repent is to fear the Lord, and to repent, a person needs to be honest with themself and be aware of what sin they need to deal with. You can ask yourself the question: where do I stand, what correction do I need to make, and then make a commitment to work on them. This will require you to prioritize what is important to you.
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 says, “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind. For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.”
As a disciple of Jesus your priority should be to protect the Covenant of God, and you do that by being obedient and living out God’s commandments in your life. It is very difficult to even understand the Covenant of God when sin is in the way. Click here to learn more about the New Covenant and what it means to accept Jesus.
A disciple of Jesus must be committed to overcome sin in their life. Overcoming sin takes effort and commitment, is possible with God’s help, and is achievable when a person sets a goal to stop sin and is determined to overcome it. Reaching your full potential requires effort, and overcoming sin is a battle for every child of God (Revelation 3:20-23).
A Practical Approach to Overcoming Sin
To help stay committed to overcoming sin, you should set a timeline for reaching specific goals of what it is you want to overcome. Ask yourself, where do you want to be in the next two, or three, or even 6 months? Where would you like to see yourself a year from now. Setting goals and priorities is super important.
As an example of setting priorities let’s say your goal is to spend more time every day praying and studying God’s word. Then in four to six months, you want to be doing more to remember the Sabbath (4th Commandment). Then by this time next year, you want to have overcome your anger issues. Once you have defined your priorities and timelines, you can create a small task list (journal) of how you plan to change your current lifestyle to do this. You may need some tools to help such as for studying the Bible you can download a free app like the One-Year Bible Reading Journal. Having a plan will make a huge difference in your journey.
Right Now it is About the Small Victories
Repentance should be seen as a journey to know God and understand His truth because you want to live in the will of God. You can take small steps towards God and keep making small corrections one at a time. It is not all or nothing! The way to achieve this is by setting a life of repentance as a priority, enjoy the journey, and if you fall get back up.
Proverbs 24:16 says “though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again…”
Character Development: Prioritize What’s Important
It is important to understand that our character is a root cause for many of our sins and can cause us to slide back into our old habits, but our character can also assist us in being obedient. We must strive to make correction and improve our character. A person can be caring in certain situations, cheerful, and brilliant, but can also be lazy, proud, and rude. We need to take an inventory of our character traits and be aware of where we need to make improvements. As another example, pride can cause us to be haughty and inconsiderate, while humility can birth kindness towards others.
Paul says in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
The fruit of the Spirit translates into our character traits. Our character traits help us measure where we are in the repentance process.
(A little piece of helpful advice when it comes to repentance). A Rabbi once said, “push away your sin”. To do this, allow more space for God in your life. If you put effort into serving God and keeping His commandments, and as you love God more, along with repentance, and applying God’s commandments in your life, the sin will fall away.
Here are 5 Verses to Consider That Will Help Prioritize the Seed of Repentance in You
- Be wholehearted with the Lord your God (give Him your all)- Deuteronomy 18:13
- Place the Lord before you continuously (always make room for Him in your life) – Psalm 16:8
- Love your neighbor as yourself (be committed to get along with others) – Leviticus 19:18
- Know him in all your ways (let His will be your will) – Proverbs 3:6
- Walk discreetly with your God (be careful to follow God’s instructions) – Micah 6:8
These scriptures will be discussed more during this 30-day journey and can be used to help apply God’s instructions in your life. For today, make sure you have your list prioritized and know what you are working on based on what’s important to you.
Click here to listen to a short audio that will encourage you to stay committed to your priority list.
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