Repentance is the start of our journey, but it is just the beginning. John the Baptist, who came to prepare the way for Jesus, urged people to live out their repentance (Matthew 3:1-11): ‘produce fruit in keeping with repentance.’ It isn’t enough merely to have a head knowledge of God; we must live out our faith in the real world, with all its ups and downs, difficulties and disasters.
Repentance may well involve restitution (giving back what we have stolen, making right what we have done wrong.) It may mean seeking someone out and asking for forgiveness. Repentance can feel uncomfortable to us, for it accepts the status quo has to change and it refuses to let us off the hook! Yet when we repent, there is freedom and joy, because finally we are doing things God’s way!
