Why Do We Need To Repent?

The answer to this question is plain: man is naturally sinful and God is righteous. Man has to acknowledge his plight by believing wholeheartedly in the gospel of the Kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, He must forsake his old way of life and follow the basic truth that scripture teaches. “The heart of man is deceitful above all things and is desperately wicked”(Jer 17:9). “From within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, all evil things come from within and defile the man” (Mark 7:21-23). “Remember that Gentiles in the flesh are without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Ephesians 2:11,12).

How then can we come to repentance? How can we have another mind? The answer is to allow the word of God to have free and welcome access to the mind we already have. The word of God is adapted to achieving a change of mind in the one who hears, understands and keeps the message.

Those three steps are vital. “Hearing” the word of God is more than merely reading it. Bible ‘hearing’ is listening humbly with the intention of being instructed. In the Old Testament it is often described as “listening” (the ear) as though one were listening to someone who has a message for them personally. Anyone who reads the Bible in this way will soon discover that the whole book is designed for the personal reader, the one who wants to know.

“Reading” the word of God means that a man must give himself, he must open the doors of his mind and let the refreshing word of God enter in. This is the secret behind repentance and conversion. This word is God’s root in the mind which will do its work without fail. Divine thoughts are imparted by the word of God and the humble reader will soon begin to think the thoughts of God. He will begin to have another mind.

*A righteous person sees the best in others.

*A self-righteous person condemns others.

Bro Wilberforce Wandera (Busia, Uganda)