Repentance is Complete in the Fruit of Change!
We can argue whether repentance is found in all the Gospels, we can argue whether we find it between Luke and Revelation. We can further argue whether repentance is necessary for salvation, and can even do the same with baptism. But, it is difficult to argue what can happen when true repentance takes place, and when the fruit of the change is obvious. Jesus’ last statements in Luke, at His ascesion, demonstrate the importance He placed on repentance and His promise of what would follow:

. . . and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:46-49, NASB)

When we look at the early church fathers, we can argue whether Augustine was correct in his belief that repentance was a gift like grace, or whether it was a life-long experience as Luther or Calvin believed, or whether grace proceeded from repentance as Luther felt it did. But when we understand that in repentance (metanoia) there is enabling and equipping for change, there is really little we can argue!

My own early childhood was filled with the knowledge of God and the relationship He had established with me “before the foundations of the world.” I knew He had “chosen me to be holy and blameless.” I knew that I was “saved by grace and not by works.” I accepted His grace at work in my life at an early age, felt His call on my life, and had a very real desire to serve Him.

My young adult life was filled with the conscious knowledge that we could walk expecting miracles, and those miracles—real miracles—did fill my life. I went to a Christian college and took seminary classes, and my life was filled with the joy of experiences He created for me to walk in—including marriage to a wonderful Christian wife and numerous job opportunities.

And yet despite His real presence in my life, I proceeded to trash my opportunities and compromise my witness. It wasn’t until I’d lost nearly everything, that I finally began to seek Him and truly walk in repentance. At that time, God brought an experience into my life that confirmed the value of the equipping that comes in repentance.

In the midst of a family crisis, my daughter and I found ourselves at a Sunday evening service where our pastor delivered a message he hadn’t intended—on recommittment. He spoke of the need to “return to a call,” and specifically of someone who was there that evening who’d been running from a call for more than thirty years. Later, as as we knelt in the midst of our pews in prayer, God spoke the same message to my daughter and I, “Tonight’s the night!” When Sarah shared what He had whispered to her my immediate thought was, “I need more time, Lord.” But I suspected He wouldn’t wait on me anymore, and I also suspected that later on that night—I would really need Him . . . and I did!