After angrily raising my voice at one of my children, I stopped and took a deep breath, realizing that I needed to apologize for how I just responded. In a kind, calm voice I said, “I am so sorry for yelling at you, do you forgive me?”
Directly staring into my eyes, my child responded with “yes, I will always forgive you.” This response deeply struck my heart. It reminded me of repentance and forgiveness.
As God’s child, we always have the gift of his forgiveness, no matter what… but without repentance we can’t receive the fullness of it, and our behavior won’t be changed.
Forgiveness and repentance in the Bible go hand in hand; one without the other means you are not really receiving the benefits of a transformed life for Christ. Practicing them together helps you to become aware of your sin and take accountability for it, meaning it can’t rule your life any longer.
Your heart changes towards sin as you go to God with remorse, in repentance. As a result, you walk in greater freedom, being sanctified more into his image.
What Is Repentance in the Bible?
Repentance is a gift. When you mess up, as we all do, it gives you a chance to go before God in prayer and make amends.
Repentance in the Bible means “to turn back, return” to God after sinning. You need to turn from your sin, as sin doesn’t please God.
A sin is something you do, say, or think that goes against God. There is a lot of teaching on repentance in the Bible, and examples of repentance in the Bible. For example, God warned his people through prophets to repent.
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations.” (Ezekiel 14:6, ESV)
Thus, the importance of repentance in the Bible is considerable, and therefore you should practice it, too.
Truly loving yourself requires a heart that is sorry for what you did and one that really hates sin, also. Then you can turn from wickedness to walk in righteousness and please God.
When you do this, you are living out what is true repentance. True repentance changes your heart, and you.
Repenting for your sins is humbling and ensures you don’t take your forgiveness for granted, but experience the fullness of it. The more you practice true repentance, going before God with the right heart, the more you will lean on him, which keeps you humble.
A good prayer to pray is the Jesus prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”
What Is Forgiveness in the Bible?
You are forgiven of your sins no matter what you do, big or small, when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior. When you remember this, you never need to ask yourself again: “Can I be forgiven for my sins?”
Instead, you can focus on the spiritual meaning of forgiveness, which is “dismissal, release, pardon.”
Jesus canceled your sins for you, taking on the punishment that you deserved due to his grace. To him be all the praise!
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace…” (Ephesians 1:7, ESV)
This is such a gift—we should never take our forgiveness for granted. You are never too far gone, nor can you do anything so bad that God won’t forgive you and show you how much he loves you.
However, we should never become so comfortable in our life that when we do something wrong we don’t repent. We need instead to pray that God alerts us whenever we wrong him so we can repent and rid ourselves of our sins—choosing instead to love him, love people, and within it love ourselves, enjoying freely the life he died on the cross to give us.
Our sins should move us to repentance because we love God so much that we don’t want to wrong him. Forgiveness without apology can keep us comfortable in our sins.
What Is True Repentance According to the Bible?
Just casually saying you are sorry to God because you think you have to is not the right heart. You should repent because you are truly sorry that you sinned against God—because you love him so much, and he loves you.
Recall what he did for you on the cross to remember his love for you.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16, ESV)
You don’t deserve anything, it’s all by his grace. You should suffer the punishment for your sins but instead you don’t have to. This truth alone allows you to be in great reverence to God, and to repent with the right heart.
You can know within yourself if you are repenting with the right heart. There are signs of true repentance. You will receive and experience these benefits below:
- No guilt or shame anymore for what you did. Instead, you have peace.
- There is no condemnation because you know he took on the punishment for you; you forgive yourself as well, walking freely as he intended.
- It draws you closer to God and you have a greater realization of what he did for you on the cross because you know you need him.
- It allows you to have a deeper reverence for who he is, fearing him as a loving father and honoring him as God above it all and accepting your humble position.
Forgiveness and repentance in the Bible go together and you need to repent to receive the full measure of your forgiveness.
Repentance and Forgiveness
God calls us to repent in the Bible, despite being always forgiven, for many reasons.
Psalm 51:1-17 is a guide to this. In this Psalm, David is asking for forgiveness from God for his sin with Bathsheba.
Below is an outline on how you can pray this Psalm—a template of how to pray to God for forgiveness for whatever you did. Or, you can just pray the words back to God as well.
In addition, to continue to practice true repentance, pray that God makes you aware of your sins now and always. Ask to hate sin as he does. He loves you but hates sin.
Step 1: Ask God to Help You
David started off by asking God for help. He spoke of his character and asked to be made clean.
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Psalm 51:1-2, ESV)
Go to God in prayer first, and say, “God, I need you. I need help. Help me.” Pray for him to have mercy on you. Only his Holy Spirit within you can help you to stop sinning and turn for good.
Repentance starts with admitting that you are powerless over sin and that you need him. He is always the answer. He will help you.
Step 2: Admit You Did Wrong Before God
David knew he wronged many, but knew it was ultimately counter to God, and says so.
“For I know my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart.” (Psalm 51:3-6, ESV)
He knew he should be punished by God. He could have made a different choice, but didn’t.
You, too, should own up to what you did and admit it. You will mess up because you are a work in progress, being perfected in his image.
Pray by telling God how you slipped up, knowing Jesus pardoned you of a worse punishment.
“God, I messed up by doing ______. I am so deeply sorry.”
Step 3: Pray for God to Rid You of Your Sin
In verses 51:7-9, David talks about wanting to be cleansed and for God to rid him of his sin, which will bring him happiness because his sin brought bad outcomes upon him.
“Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones that you have broken rejoice. Hide your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities.” (Psalm 51:7-9, ESV)
Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice for your sins and he has cleansed you. Because we are still in our body, fighting the flesh, we will fall prey to sin… but we will not pay the ultimate punishment for it.
Ask God to rid you of your sin. Tell him how much you hate it and how you want to walk in freedom. Ask for the power of his Holy Spirit to help you not walk in it any longer. You have the Holy Spirit within you to help you stop.
Step 4: Pray for God to Change You
David wanted to change, but he knew he needed God, so he asked him. He also wanted to be restored to him.
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.” (Psalm 51:10-12, ESV)
Ask God to change you to be more like him, having a “pure heart,” and to be committed to him more.
You can feel distant in your sin, so this can bring you closer to God once again as you live according to how he calls you.
Step 5: Praise God
In Psalm 51:13-17, David spoke about what would come from God forgiving him. He came to God with the right heart, receiving his forgiveness, and that allowed him to share with others about God to help them in their relationship with him and also praise him.
“Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you. Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, O God of my salvation, and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” (Psalm 51:13-17, ESV)
Finish your time of prayer by praising Jesus for his forgiveness.
God has gifted us with forgiveness no matter what we do; we don’t ever want to take it for granted. There are many examples of forgiveness in the Bible, such as in the Prodigal son parable, to remind us that God loves us no matter what… and forgives us.
Repentance and forgiveness together transform us. It’s a continuous practice that God wants us to follow, as it changes us, allows us to depend on him, helps us know our deep need for him, and so much more. You can walk then in the fullness of your forgiveness. It’s such a gift!
