To ‘repent’ is to change your mind and turn back to God. It begins with deep sorrow for your sin, confessing that you are heading in the wrong direction and rebelling against God, and then changing your life to live in His ways (2 Corinthians 7:10). Once we realise that we have rebelled against God and rejected Jesus as our rightful king, repentance is the only proper response we can have, and it is necessary in order for us to be saved (Acts 2:37-41, Acts 3:19). That is not to say that it is a work by which we merit God’s salvation. We are saved only by grace, and the Spirit must regenerate our hearts before repentance is possible (Acts 11:18, 2 Timothy 2:25). Repentance is both a one-time change of direction in the heart in response to God’s grace, and also a daily decision to choose to say ‘no’ to sinning and ‘yes’ to obedient living. The Christian life is one of ongoing repentance (Titus 2:11-15, Revelation 2:4-5).
