Repentance

(the thought of why i am going to post something about repentance may be running through your mind now. you may be wondering why that out of the blues would i suddenly have a post on such a topic. why not something else you may ask. well, i was thinking. that in our everyday life. we SIN. yes we sin. whether we do it subconsciously or consciously is a different thing. but ya. the thing is that. after we sin.. and realise our mistake, what most of us do is to just ask for forgiveness. but we always seem to somehow or rather make the same mistake again. or at least that's what i discovered have been happening to me. and why is that so. cos we don't repent. ya. we do ask for forgiveness. but may not mean it. and may just be asking for the forgiveness for the sake of asking. and ya. all these were running through my mind. so i decided to find out more on repentance.)

ok. basically. to repent is to be sorry for something bad that you have done. and repentant is feeling sorry because of something bad that you have done. (is it the same thing. haha didn't notice. but anyway..) so i guess. ya. many people actually know that they have done wrong. and yes. ask for forgiveness. but do they actually feel sorry about what they have done? or are they doing what they do so that others would think that they are doing the right thing? but are their hearts at the right place? that's just one issue.

second one is. do we dare to feel sorry for the sins we commit again and again and again.. are we worried that we won't be forgiven. so instead we try to cover up our mistakes and ya. don't admit.

"When you are in diestress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or gorget the convenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath." Decteronomy 4:30-31

"if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will i hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal thier land." 2 Chronicles 7:14

Jesus said in matthew 4:17 "...'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is now near' "

so ya. God wants us to repent when we have done wrong. repent cos it is the right thing to do. God has already promised to forgive. he will even heal our land. and yea. the kingdom of heaven is now near. so ya. repentance must be a really important thing cos God wants us to repent

the bible is so kind to us. that for those who don't understand what i'm saying. there's even a story to illustrate. ya.

The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14)
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prated about himself: 'God, I thank you that i am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all i get.' But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to the heaven, but beat his breast and said,'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted."

so ya. i guess from all these. we can learn that repentance is a really important thing. and it is also something which we can gain. we won't even lose out on anything. ya. and when repenting. we should humble ourselves and pray like the tax collectors. cos for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. so i guess this is a lesson learnt for myself. ya.

(please pardon me if this doesn't really make sense. ya. hopefully as time passes. i'll improve on such posts and hopefully bring more back to Christ)