🤔 What is repentance, and why is it important?

🙏 Repentance isn't just about feeling sorry for your sins.

It's a two-part process that includes:

💔 Contrition (acknowledging your wrongs)

✨ Hope (faith in God's mercy)

🌟 In other words, when you repent, you're not just feeling guilty; you're trusting that God will forgive you.

💭 Think of it like this: If you break something valuable and know the punishment will be severe, you might try to blame others — the dog, gravity, or circumstances.

➡️ But real repentance means admitting your fault (not blaming anyone else) because you believe in God’s truth and mercy.

⚖️ When you're exposed to the law, it produces contrition — you recognize where you've fallen short.

🙏When you hear the gospel, it creates hope — you trust in His forgiveness.

🌱 Both these responses might be imperfect in this life, and that's okay.

⚓ You don't need to measure how sorry you feel or how strong your faith is. Instead, focus on Christ, who rose from the grave.

🎯 The importance of repentance lies in giving you somewhere to take your sins. You shouldn't have them, but since you do, Jesus gives you a place to take them.

⛪ Through baptism, communion, and the church, you have concrete places to receive this forgiveness.

🌅 Rather than trying to bury your sins or become numb to them (which doesn't solve the underlying problem), you can bring them to Jesus.

Contributor Rev. Harrison Goodman is the Higher Things Content Executive.

#higherthings #lcms #lutheran #repentance