Ever think about how does one truly repent and walk away from a sin for good? How do we get true heart felt sorrow about a sin? Are we to believe that we are supposed to work it up somehow but...... doesn't a true attitude of repentance come from God?
The LORD is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all. Psalms 34:18-19
So we see first, repentance is NOT a FEELING it is a realization that God has taken our broken state and brought it together through His righteousness, giving us an avenue to take our worn and torn spirit and lay it at His feet, NOT because we feel sorry but because we ARE TRULY sorry. What's the difference?
Our true deliverance comes from the fact that we have been declared (not made) righteous before God by way of Christ's work on the Cross
He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds...Psalm 147:3
Feeling sorry would allow us a temporary relief from our iniquities past, leaving open wounds in our spirit, and since as mankind in the flesh is temporal, the flesh has to be over-ridden and the permanent solution is Christ and His sacrifice, His rigtheousness, His healing and His binding up of those wounds.
Imagine pouring salt on an open wound, how the pain would be incredible, how intense, but during the process, it begins to heal, Now that is how true repentance differs from just feeling sorry, it is the intensity, the fire, that Spirit Filled Convicting sorrow, a sorrow that has broken our most inner self, and only the Lord can BIND up those wounds. Then the healing starts, in reality if we have a wound that is healing, the bandages have to be changed from time to time to insure that the healing continues without incident, in the same sense, as we continue to walk with Christ, when we stumble we need to humble ourselves before God, reveal our newly acquired open wounds (sins), because we not only have a NEW heart, but Now through Christ, we have a change of mind, one that sees true repenance as a gift, from a wonderful and forgiving God!
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9
