True Repentance: An Open Door for Chances

by: Micah A. Tecne

 Who doesn't love light, righteousness, and good to rule every day? We want to see good things happen in our lives. We desire to be always righteous, but the sad reality is that we live in a world full of chances to compromise. The struggle of bearing our sinful nature sinks in when we fall into sin and get attached to any form of wickedness that leads us to suffer destructive consequences, find ourselves condemned, and be regretful of our mistakes. We suffer the torture of condemnation from people around us, and worst is the soreness of our self-condemnation.

As we find guilty, people convicted of their crime receive their judgment from a court hearing, which makes us reflect on the dire effect of one's wrong choices and actions. We cannot deny that we get so lax that we are safe from judgment if we don't get caught in our wicked actions and sins. As St. Paul once said, God cannot be mocked; a man reaps what He sows, we will bear the consequences of our sins if not today; it will come in time if we fail to realize the greatness of our wicked actions and repent of our sins.  

We respond differently when we are caught in our sins. Some of us rationalize our wrongdoings to protect ourselves from being judged. Some hide and leave the life of a runaway and are afraid to suffer the consequences that await us. Others tend to do things to cover the sin and pretend innocent to be acquitted. Some of us acknowledge our faults but are unwilling to do anything about them. Others humbly admit wrongs and are willing to go through the restoration process and try to correct them.

As we commemorate the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ, let it be a time for us to reflect the real meaning of repentance. Our sins indeed have consequences. The consequences of suffering in all aspects. We are afraid of acknowledging and admitting our faults because we don’t want to go through a painful and even long process of restoration. The process of going through a lot of pruning to make as new again.

Both Judas and Peter, who were with Jesus, betrayed Him. Judas turned innocent Jesus to be imprisoned and received a lot of pay from the Pharisees, while Peter denied himself as one of Jesus' disciples. Both of them felt guilty but repented in different ways. Judas hanged himself because of guilt, while Peter went back to where he was until Jesus restored him after His resurrection and became faithful to the end of his life.

Every day is a struggle between light and darkness, righteousness, and wickedness, good and bad. We struggle to be always righteous, and we find ourselves falling into sin. Because of our guilt, we tend to condemn ourselves and repent the wrong way, destroying our lives.

True repentance is not doing another sin to correct the sin; it is an action. It is not only a word being uttered that we are sorry. It happens when we realize our fault, its dreadful impact on us and others, and how it displeases the Almighty God, who sees all things. Our realization will cause us to acknowledge and admit our wrongs and do something about them. We start to make the necessary changes to correct our wrongs.

True repentance brings us hope that there is still a chance for us to be restored. An opportunity to turn our wicked past into a righteous present and future. It is a gift that Jesus had on His mind when He died on the cross and was resurrected. As St. Paul said, there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. A psalmist once said, A broken and a contrite heart, O God, You will not despise.