Here is an excerpt of one of my writings on the Biblical subject of repentance:
Repentance Is Change
An ancient Chinese proverb says: "If we do not change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed."
The concept of making a “change of mind” seems foreign to the I-Did-It-My-Way world we live in. To change, one must first exercise humility. Here's what the Bible says about this challenging transformation:
Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. (James 4:8-10)
The following illustration will expose more meaning to the process of repentance:
One day, you enter a doctor’s office and sit down to wait your turn. Picking up a National Geographic, you thumb through the glossy pages and come across an article focusing on your favorite sea creatures, lobsters. Everyone knows that you are a lobster fanatic. You love the sauces that go with them. You enjoy the process of prying and digging to get all the meat. You can’t put down your pick until you’ve harvested it all.
So, you turn page after page in the magazine, examining full-page photos of fishing boats, traps, and holding tanks stocked with rubber-banded lobsters. You learn about the lobster’s territory, seasonal cycles, and eating habits.
You learn that the lobster is like a giant insect, crawling around on the ocean floor. You learn that of all the insects on the earth’s surface, the lobster is most akin to the cockroach. Nice. Your stomach turns. You read on to find that boiled cockroaches taste the same as a high-dollar lobster meal. Your stomach turns the other way.
Horrid thoughts fill your mind with millions of lobsters scurrying around on the ocean floor eating the sediment and… other stuff that settles there. Fortunately, a nurse calls your name and distracts you from the terror of your imagination. Whew!
Two days later, you go out to eat with your family at a seafood restaurant. Since you always have eaten lobster, your family orders for you without a second thought. When the waitperson returns with your meal, you look down at the plate. You see a giant cockroach steaming on your plate. You burst out with “Gross!” You hand the plate back to your host and ask for a burger and fries.
Now you have fully repented of your love for lobster (not that this is a moral thing, but only an object of illustration). You both think differently now (seeing lobster as cock roach) and act differently (ordering burger and fries). True conversion begins in the mind but must involve the actions.
Experience shows that nearly every repentant sinner will throw something away. Certain music, movies, books, games, magazines, drugs, alcohol, tobacco, occult charms, “adult” products, seductive clothing, or a host of other things need to be burned or otherwise destroyed. As a rule of thumb, a person who shows reluctance in parting with the things of the old lifestyle may not have come to a full commitment yet.
Sinners merely begin repentance when they take their lives to the altar. They complete repentance when they alter their lives....