Rats and Repentance

When unbelievers are asked to define the word, “repent,” they will usually say that it means to feel sorry for something you’ve done and to express remorse or sadness. This definition has some truth to it, yet still falls woefully short.  You can feel sad about something that has happened as a result of a decision you’ve made, while also not thinking that your decision was particularly wrong. Thus, you might engage in the same wrong behavior again if you can enjoy that behavior without causing the same regretful result. For example, perhaps you’ve enjoyed the intimate pleasures of a relationship and produced a child. You then paid for an abortion of that child or otherwise found a way to avoid the responsibility of caring for the person you helped create. You feel sorry about that, but you still continue to enjoy intimate pleasures in the future with anyone you like because you don’t see enjoying those pleasures outside of an exclusive committed relationship as wrong, and you certainly don’t contemplate God’s perspective on the matter.  So now you experience those pleasures in such a way that children cannot be produced. You never consider how engaging in such pleasures outside of a committed relationship may yield emotional bonds and pains for the other person – maybe even for years after the non-committal relationship inevitably dissolves.  Feeling bad about any of that isn’t repentance because repentance is more than feelings. Alternatively, when Christians are asked to define the word “repent,” many will say that it means to turn around from the immoral path you are traveling on and then go in the opposite direction. That definition works better than the unbeliever’s.  Even so, it also falls terribly short. You can turn around on the path you’re traveling while still thinking that the immoral path has something good for you. Maybe you turn around from your immoral path not because you think the opposite direction is really morally better, but because you fear getting punished for enjoying the fruits of the immoral path.  As a practical matter, turning around on the immoral path for the wrong reasons is certainly better than staying on the immoral path, but it isn’t repentance. In that instance, you are motivated by fear rather than an attraction to a higher spiritual good. Your motivation to stay on the “moral” path will only last for as long as you are afraid of negative consequences.  Biblical repentance means changing your mind. When you change your mind about who God is, it motivates you to pursue the highest possible good, and to avoid evil, not because you are afraid of punishment.  Ultimately, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1)! Instead, you pursue the highest possible good, because you love God, and now view him as the highest possible good. This is exactly why Paul tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind (Romans 12:1). 

Suppose there is a restaurant in your town that you always avoid because you see it as too high end. Perhaps you think it is too expensive, that its patrons are too straightlaced, and that the food is too bland.  The owner is wise, and kind, and always inviting you in while telling you the other restaurant in town is dangerous. He even tells you that he has sacrificed something so you can have a seat at one of his tables. You remain uninterested. You decide to stick to your diner of greasy food. The food is plentiful, its cheap, and even though you know it is killing you slowly, you have to admit that you find it very pleasing. One day you walk into the diner’s kitchen and notice a rat eating from the grill. Cockroaches are everywhere, and droppings of some kind are all around the prep area. Mold and mildew are all over the walls. The owner appears unbothered by any of it. You’d change your mind about that diner very fast! In fact you’d feel disgusted, ashamed, and sorry you had recommended it to others. You’d turn around and walk out immediately. You’d then see the other owner and his restaurant as good and desirable. This is closer to what real repentance is actually like.