Faith is the key that ensures the joy of life, and the righteous shall live by faith. The path of faith is not easy, and it is never smooth. But in the end, the experience of God is personal and unique and can never be transferred to another. (Rabbi Steinsaltz, Pebbles of Wisdom)
It is important to know if you are repenting with the correct motives, and with a pure heart. You should repent for the sake of Heaven, and to prepare yourself to be a worthy servant for the King. To bear fruit of righteousness, and to be found faithful when Jesus returns. Repentance is the process of redemption that God has given us, and He allows us to bear fruit of repentance that ultimately proves our trustworthiness to Him. As Jesus has explained in Matthew 25:14–30, that trustworthiness determine our position in the Kingdom of God. You have a job to fulfill, but it is your decision if you end up where you are supposed to be.
Jesus said in Matthew 5:19, “Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
Choosing the path of repentance is your job. How well you do in your job, is directly linked to how much repentance you accomplish. The greatest blessing in this world is to know God, and it only comes through repentance.
The amount of effort you should put into repentance is in proportion to the percentage of fruit you desire to produce. A few questions you can ask yourself: are you repenting sincerely? What kind of fruit, and how much fruit do you want to produce? Are you trying to negotiate with God for something that is for a selfish motive? Do you desire to be found trustworthy when you stand before the judgment seat of Christ as Paul mentions in 2 Corinthians 5:9-11?
It is also important to ask God to help you love Him for who He is and ask God to allow you to see yourself as He sees you. God does not love the sin, or bad behavior, but He does love the real you. You may need to repent for the regret you have towards yourself, or for the damage caused in your own life, and the lives of those around you.
How to Know When You Have Overcome Sin
When the opportunity for a sin that you did in the past comes around again, and you do not repeat it, then most likely you repented and overcame it.
Although, that does not always mean you have completely repented. As an example, if you have personally stepped away from addiction, and years later went back to it, then you did not overcome it. As a good analogy, you can move files that are on your computer and put them in the trash can, or you can go to the trash can and permanently delete them.
The reality is the opportunity for sin will continue to come up over and over again until you have fully repented of it and have overcome it. You will repeatedly be tested on your sincerity until you have repented 100%. Something to consider, a test in not only to show the teacher where the student is in their learning, it is also to show the student where they stand in accordance with what they should know. We have the opportunity here in this world to continually work on our repentance until the day we die, and God will continually allow us to see where we stand. We are not promised tomorrow, that is why we need to work on overcoming the sin in our life today.
God has an appointed position for you in the Kingdom, and He is preparing you for it. You need to continually cultivate the seed of repentance within you to obtain it.
It’s very important to understand the concept of repenting in “Service of the King“. When you make corrections in your life with this mindset, it is a much deeper repentance. That is what God is looking for. One day we will be living in the Kingdom with Jesus as King, and right now you need to see yourself living in that Kingdom.
The greater you are in the Kingdom of God, the less you desire the things of the world. The less you desire the world, the more you are able to live according to kingdom principles right now. We have the opportunity to make the wrongs right and affect the world around us. The revelation of you having a position in the Kingdom of God on this earth when Jesus is King, only comes through pure repentance. God gives us a job, which is repentance, we determine how well we fulfill that job. As we are fulfilling repentance in our life, we will by default impact those around us in a positive way.
Jesus gave us many examples of how we will be given a position in the Kingdom. One example is in the parable of the talents in
Matthew 25:14-30 where He said, “For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away.” Jesus also said in Matthew 5:19, “Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.”
You have the opportunity to learn God’s instructions because Jesus earned the favor with God for us to repent and turn to Him. The question is, are you truly investing in repentance? This is an understanding that you cannot take lightly, and you need to make it a priority in your life.
Paul said in Romans 2:4-11, “Do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God will repay each person according to what they have done. To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.”
The Amount of Effort for Repentance Depends on How Much You Desire the Position God Has Appointed for You
For some people, they may find it is best to work on one thing at a time, others two, and for others maybe three or four issues. What really counts is you are cultivating the seed of repentance in your life to obtain a better resurrection, and fully achieve the position God has for you in His Kingdom (Hebrews 11:35).
When there is no more worldly desire, or no more temptation in you, then you will have overcome sin. The bible teaches us how we overcome the devil, in Revelation 12:11 it says, “and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.”
Jesus fulfilled His position and granted you the opportunity to repent. As a disciple of Jesus, you are responsible to accept that opportunity. Repentance is a balanced equation. The amount of time and effort you put towards a life of repentance is equal to the amount of fruit your life produces.
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