Reply To: Repentance Verses
Jeremiah 31:19
19 After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
Great example from the Tanakh (“Old Testament”) of the revelation of the magnitude of one’s sin. One way that I have asked Father to give me repentance in the past is to let me see (myself, my sin) through HIS eyes. Let me tell you brothers and sisters, be prepared for what you ask as the first time I experienced this, it literally brought me to the floor in a heap. It was overwhelmingly grievous. (Subsequently, if I ever ask anything like that now I do so while already laying prostrate!:) I’m sure I did not receive the FULLNESS of how Father God views sin as I don’t think that in this Earthly state I could handle or comprehend. What did happen was a much greater understanding of the scope of His MERCY through the remedy of repentance and then forgiveness. It gives me an outlook of “how DARE I return to ANY sin after having been washed by the Blood of Yahusha (Jesus)”. Good perspective on this is the tax collector in Luke 18:10-14:
9Then Jesus told this story to some who had great confidence in their own righteousness and scorned everyone else: 10“Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a despised tax collector. 11The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: ‘I thank you, God, that I am not like other people—cheaters, sinners, adulterers. I’m certainly not like that tax collector! 12I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.’
13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’ 14I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God. For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”