by David Gibson<\/p>\n
Repentance isn’t easy.<\/p>\n
Why?<\/p>\n
Sin is pleasurable. Change is challenging. Confession is humbling.<\/p>\n
What can prompt a 180\u00b0?<\/p>\n
Knowing God was about to punish, the Ninevites repented (Jonah 3:4-10). Seeing their penitence, God relented (Jeremiah 18:7-8).<\/p>\n
Shouldn’t Judgment Day motivate us? “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead<\/em>” (Acts 17:30-31).<\/p>\n “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?<\/em>” (Romans 2:4).<\/p>\n When the Prodigal understood what his sin had cost him, he was ready to return (Luke 15:11-19).<\/p>\n When Peter realized he had denied knowing Jesus, “he went out and wept bitterly<\/em>” (Matthew 26:75).<\/p>\n “For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death<\/em>” (II Corinthians 7:10 NASB).<\/p>\n “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus<\/em>” (Acts 3:19).<\/p>\n Strong incentives!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by David Gibson Repentance isn’t easy. Why? Sin is pleasurable. Change is challenging. Confession is humbling. What can prompt a 180\u00b0? Fear of punishment Knowing God was about to punish, the Ninevites repented (Jonah 3:4-10). Seeing their penitence, God relented (Jeremiah 18:7-8). Shouldn’t Judgment Day motivate us? “The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-93292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-repentance"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":89151,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/doing-the-same\/","url_meta":{"origin":93292,"position":0},"title":"Doing the Same","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Zeke Flores Paul had pointed out the wickedness of the Gentiles, and his Jewish readers must have loved it. \"Yeah! Let 'em have it, Paul!\" they must have thought. Their glee will be short-lived because Paul will quickly lower the boom on them, too. But Paul wasn't merely trying\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48842,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/sin-repentance-and-judging-others\/","url_meta":{"origin":93292,"position":1},"title":"Sin, Repentance, and Judging Others","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 9, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer Some discussions just seem odd to me. One such oddity goes along these lines (and it seems to happen over and over, especially on social media, so this is not a reference to one particular discussion): Person A: \"People who engage in this activity are in sin\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10298,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/gods-compassion\/","url_meta":{"origin":93292,"position":2},"title":"God’s Compassion","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 22, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalms 58 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0God has the absolute right to judge \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Some get angry that He would dare to judge \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But it is the righteous God who gets angry - Psalms 7:10-11 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How can mankind who have shown repeated incidences of injustice sit in judgment on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66252,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/repent-of-your-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":93292,"position":3},"title":"Repent of Your Sins","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 31, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Nana Yaw Aidoo via The Gospel Preceptor, Vol. 7, No. 2, February 2024 Over and over again, the New Testament emphasizes the necessity of repentance in the salvation of humans. The first preacher in the New Testament is John the Baptizer. We are told that he was sent to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":51926,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-romans-24-and-titus-211-talking-about-two-different-types-of-grace\/","url_meta":{"origin":93292,"position":4},"title":"Are Romans 2:4 and Titus 2:11 talking about two different types of grace?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 16, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good day, Titus 2:11 speaks about the grace that brings salvation, meaning unmerited favor. Does Romans 2:4 talk about a different grace, where God cares and supplies to all human beings so that they would want the grace mentioned in Titus 2:11? Thanks. Answer: \"For the grace of God\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39493,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-psalm-of-penitence\/","url_meta":{"origin":93292,"position":5},"title":"A Psalm of Penitence","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Psalm 51:10-17 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0There are several psalms which deal with sorrow over sin and repentance: Psalms 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, and 143. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The context is given at the beginning of Psalm 51 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0David was a man dedicated to God. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Though he was told at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}God’s goodness<\/h2>\n
Taking inventory<\/h2>\n
Godly sorrow<\/h2>\n
God’s blessing<\/h2>\n