“Repentance is deciding that you have been wrong in supposing that you could manage your own life and be your own god;
it is deciding that you were wrong in thinking that you had, or could get, the strength, education and training to make it on your own;
it is deciding that you have been told a pack of lies about yourself and your neighbours and your world.
And it is deciding that God, in Jesus Christ, is telling you the truth.
Repentance is a realization that what God wants from you and what you want from God are not going to be achieved by doing the same old things, thinking the same old thoughts. Repentance is a decision to follow Jesus Christ and become his pilgrim in the path of peace.”
-Eugene Peterson
“Jesus said over and over again, ‘Repent’: re-evaluate the whole way you are living your life in light of this great fact: ‘Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens is at hand.’ … You see, the kingdom of the heavens has been made available to you and to me. God has made himself available to human beings.
It is the renovation of the heart we are after… This inward work is much harder than mere outward conformity. It is harder because we cannot see it, test it, control it. We cannot program the heart of another human being. We cannot program our own heart.
But this is also what makes it easier. God is the One who sees the heart. God is the One who tenderly programs the heart, always allowing time and space for our will to turn, turn, turn – responding in a thousand ways to God’s divine Love.
We are part of God’s great renovation project for human beings. We work, but we work resting. We worship and labor under God’s abiding grace.”
– Richard Foster