Many people think repentance simply means saying a quick prayer, asking for forgiveness, and inviting Jesus into their heart. However, HowDoIRepent.org is dedicated to helping you understand that repentance is a lifelong journey of making continual corrections. It’s about seeking opportunities to address flaws in our lives so we can know God better. The result is a life filled with joy and the hope of a better resurrection.
Repentance should be a daily pursuit. Each opportunity to make corrections leads to personal growth, and growth means understanding God better—which is our ultimate reward. This post will explore how misunderstandings can disrupt that growth, allowing darkness to enter our lives and derail us, even when we think we’re doing good. Jesus gives us a clear warning to guard against this.
How Misunderstanding Can Derail Your Journey
In Luke 11:34-36, Jesus said: “Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are healthy, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are unhealthy, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be just as full of light as when a lamp shines its light on you.”
Misunderstanding can allow darkness into our lives, making our entire “body” unhealthy. This darkness blinds us to truth, preventing us from making the necessary corrections that lead to true repentance. Even worse, this darkness can corrupt what we think is good, turning it into something harmful. We can unknowingly end up doing harm, all while believing we are doing good—a truly frightening reality.
A World Full of Darkness
We live in a world today where darkness creeps in easily, threatening our ability to repent in various areas of life. Repentance isn’t an all-or-nothing act; it’s a lifelong process of correcting different parts of our lives. Whether we’re addressing anger, addiction, stealing, lying, sexual issues, idolatry, or relationships, repentance requires us to remain vigilant and committed. However, even a small bit of darkness caused by misunderstanding can form a zealousness affecting our family life, church life, work life, and more. It can derail our entire journey while we mistakenly believe we’re heading in the right direction. Let me explain.
Recognizing the Root Cause
Have you ever found yourself irritated in certain situations? Life may seem good, but particular topics, people, or events really get under your skin. Maybe it’s a political figure on the news, or a conversation about someone struggling in life that leaves you feeling frustrated or angry. Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why it bothers you so much? Why does it matter so deeply?
Often, these frustrations stem from deeper issues within ourselves. Could it be that some darkness is lurking, waiting to take hold? Many of these irritations arise from a lack of understanding, fueled by biased opinions or harmful speech from others. It’s human nature to form judgments based on limited information, but we must step back, seek the truth, and be willing to see the good in everyone.
Seeking Truth Requires Effort
God instructs us to always rely on two or more witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15; 2 Corinthians 13:1). Discovering the truth often requires effort, time, and humility. For example, we can’t rely on a single article or opinion to fully understand a person or situation. We cannot just google an article about a person or subject and read one article because many times that could be an opinion based article from a biased editor. We need to dig deeper, or maybe we might have to watch a few videos from both sides of the story to really understand it. We need to explore different perspectives, ask questions, and do the hard work of seeking the truth.
A Personal Example
I once had a conversation with a friend about Isaiah 56:6-8, which speaks about non-Jews observing the Sabbath. When I mentioned how Jews observe Sabbath from Friday evening to Saturday evening, my friend’s face immediately changed. He became upset and said, “We are not going to discuss this.” I wondered why he was so angry. Had I offended him, or was it something deeper within him?
This reaction reminded me of how misunderstandings can block us from discussing scripture or reaching a common understanding. If we allow darkness into our hearts, it can prevent us from being open to meaningful conversations about God’s Word and learning something. In this situation it was clear – the subject was a hot point for him. He was irritated and he immediately said there was no need to try to discuss what the old testament says.
We might not come to an agreement every time, however, we should be able to discuss scripture together (Deuteronomy 6:4-9) and not get aggravated at each other over it.
The Story of Stephen and Paul
In Acts, Stephen was falsely accused of being against Moses, the Torah, and the Temple. Luke emphasizes very clearly in Luke 6:13 that there were “false witnesses” that were put against him on this matter. Stephen even defines a clear sermon in Luke 7 arguing that he was not against any of these, and expounded on the fact that the promise of Jesus was from the Torah, he highly respected Moses, and it was clear and factual the his entire community had all worshiped in the Temple every day, and he had a true respect for the Temple. Shockingly, many preachers today continue to teach that Stephen was guilty of these charges, disregarding his defense – and that the Torah, Moses, and the Temple have no significance today.
From this story, it is strange how both sides who were zealous for God and wanted to have a conversation about the Word of God, had such a disagreement and one side had a misunderstanding and was so full of darkness, that they killed the very person that was trying to honor Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and point out where the Messiah was written about. This is exactly what Jesus was saying when he said be sure, “that the light within you is not darkness”. The light inside the people who stoned Stephen had become so corrupt it destroyed them. It also infected others around them, and infected many generations after them. This was a situation where there could have been repentance if they were willing to humble themselves and evaluate the facts.
Even after they killed Stephen and things settled down in Jerusalem, Paul still had hate towards the Christians (Acts 9:1) and continued to go after them. He had so much darkness in him that it was blinding him from recognizing any truth at all. The amazing story of repentance here is that in the end, Jesus was merciful and saw the good in Paul that He confronted him – and ended up using him to develop the church as we know it today.
This is a prime example of how darkness can corrupt even those who think they are serving God. Jesus’ warning in Luke 11:35—“See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness”—applies here. The people who killed Stephen believed they were doing good, but their darkness destroyed not only themselves but also those around them, and generations to come.
Even Paul, before his encounter with Jesus, was blinded by hatred and zealousness toward Christians. Yet, Jesus showed mercy, recognizing the potential in Paul. That mercy and Paul’s repentance transformed Paul into one of the most influential figures in the early Church and today.
Conclusion: Be Vigilant Against Darkness
Misunderstandings, zealousness, and bias can invite darkness into our lives, derailing our repentance and spiritual growth. But God, in His mercy, offers us opportunities to correct our paths. Like Paul, we can overcome our blindness when we allow Jesus to illuminate our lives.
Let’s strive to evaluate our hearts, seek truth, and embrace repentance as a lifelong journey. May God have mercy on us all and help us to walk fully in His light.
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