When I hear the word, “repent,” what comes to mind is some cartoon of a scowling, bearded creature holding up a sign that warns, “Repent! The end of the world is at hand.” But what if I told you that “repent” can be a lovely, warming, helpful concept in prayer?
I am no biblical scholar but from what I understand, the word “repent” in the Bible is a translation of the Greek word that means “change your mind.” And not just change your mind about what you’re going to have for dinner or what dress you’re going to wear to the party, but to change it, really change it.
That’s hard to do. Our minds get stuck, dangerously stuck in unhealthy tracks of worry, fear, anger, despair. You can tell yourself till your blue in the face to simply “let go,” but from my experience that never works. Just saying, “Don’t be anxious! Don’t be anxious!” doesn’t do the trick.
Or you can pray about it. Prayer is about changing one’s mind, from the inside, from a lasting place, and asking Someone else to do the heavy lifting.
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Here is where I think the concept of repentance is helpful. When I close my eyes to pray, dozens of thoughts careen through my head. Some are mundane, like “we need to buy some cat food,” some are profound, like “I’m afraid I might get sick and land in the hospital where I could die.”
The fears are as real as the household chores that need to get done–the cat food, the grocery list. They need to be heard. But to live in a constant state of worry and fear is to live a life without God. It is to be separated from God, which is what sin is.
So to change my mind, I turn those things over to God. Give them up. I can’t do this on my own but I can ask God to help me do it. Let go and let God, if you will.
I’ll admit, it’s a recurring process. New worries come up, new fears, new sources of anxiety. Instead of thinking them as moments of failure–“Gee, God, I thought I was over all that!”–I see them as opportunities. More chances to get back in touch with my source of comfort.
“Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand,” Jesus said. “Change your hearts and live!” is another translation that I like. “Here comes the kingdom of heaven!” (Matthew 4:17, Common English Bible).
Let me sketch a new cartoon image: a picture of me sitting on the sofa, my eyes closed, the cat at my feet. “There he goes,” the caption says, “changing his mind again.” That’s just how the kingdom of heaven gets made, millions of Jesus followers changing our minds.
