Repentance is easy – Forgiveness is hard. That is, verbal repentance is easy, but real repentance is a different story. This has been my experience – it’s pretty easy to say I am sorry, but true repentance is not. We say “oops” or “my bad” or “it won’t happen again” or “I’ll work on it”, but the real work of changing who we are and how we behave is a total slog. After all, most of us do what we do because we think it’s okay – like the opinions we hold, our behavior seems right to us – why else would we do it? This isn’t always true though; too much of what we do that we don’t like are habits or struggles that have gone unchecked. I often feel like the Apostle Paul when he wrote, ” I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” (Romans 7:15). He goes on to blame sin, but I think that was a copout.
True repentance isn’t as easy as saying the words. When a good person does something bad – and we all have done things we regret – saying the words “I’m sorry” is really important but doing the work of true repentance – atoning for our sin – can be a struggle. And real repentance does not mean asking for a break or a reduced sentence. In fact, a person who is really sorry doesn’t ask to get out of the punishment given – a truly sorry person recognizes the need to pay the price for what they’ve done. People lie; or, at least, don’t always tell the whole truth. It doesn’t matter if we are good or bad or somewhere in between – when we repent, there needs to be real action and work done in the process of moving forward.
This doesn’t mean that we – the forgiver – need others to repent for us to forgive. I think about the story of the 10 lepers Jesus healed; only one came back to say thank you, but Jesus didn’t reverse the healing and give the other 9 their leprosy back. He did, however, tell the one who came back that his faith made him well. All 10 were healed physically, but only one was made well. That is what repentance or thankfulness does for us – it makes us well in spirit. And that has been my experience of repentance and forgiveness and atoning – it makes our spirit well. It pushes us towards wholeness. Repentance isn’t just about the person I have injured – it’s about healing myself. And it is the only way we can grow into more than we have been before. Wellness – healing – matters.
Prayer – Holy God, heal us of our selfish ways, and show us how to find healing and wellness. Amen.
Today’s art is from an exhibition about wellness in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, but no artist is given.