Seeking Him, Chapter 4

In this week's study of Seeking Him, the focus was on repentance. I don't know about you, but for many years I thought of confession and repentance as being pretty much one and the same. Now I know that it's somewhat easy to confess sins, but more difficult (at least for me) to change my life in response to those confessions.

Here are a few nuggets of wisdom that I underlined in my workbook:

-Repentance cannot be considered genuine unless there is outward evidence--a change of behavior. It's not just a matter of feeling bad about our sin. If repentance is real, it will show itself. The outward manifestaton of repentance may be instantaneous or it may be seen over time. The length of time for real change may depend on the nature of the sin and how long one has been involved in it, or other variables. But sooner or later, there will be change in behavior.

-Something in our lives will break down as a result of unconfessed sin.

-...no matter how strong the bondage of sin or how long we have been involved in it, God can deliver us by His grace. [Isn't that great news? It's not up to us to deliver ourselves from bondage!]

-The purpose of repentance is not to make us feel better about ourselves but to restore us to a right relationship with God, so that our lives may again bring glory to Him and be used for His purposes. [Wow, I needed that reminder!]