Genuine repentance pleads with the Lord to forgive and deliver from the burden of sin and the fear of judgment. The publican who, fearful of even looking toward heaven, smote his breast and cried, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13). Repentance is more than changing a person’s behavior because it requires that the penitent have a change of heart and purpose, and that always results in a change of behavior.
The difficult thing about doing that is to realize that your behavior has been in opposition to God’s will and you are sorry but if you keep putting yourself back into the place of temptation the likelihood of resisting the same transgression is slim. Going past the repentance stage and gaining knowledge and obtaining spiritual depth and understanding would possibly allow a person to return to the scene. At that point resistance is such that the sinner can survive. However, we should not tempt ourselves more than we can endure.
Forgiveness of sinners is never, or seldom a one time event but rather a frequent event, in fact, an ongoing, even a lifelong practice. Not because of the ineffectiveness of the process of forgiveness but because of the nature of the penitent. There is an expectation that humans will behave as humans. That’s why there are weekly mass for the Catholic congregation and weekly Sacrament meetings for the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and etc. If the Lord thought it was necessary for just a few, the penitent would be separated out by those who need to partake of the sacrament and the others would go to a different area of the meeting house to meet.
“What must I do to be saved?” In today’s world the question is saved from what? Am I in danger of some kind? Eternity, death, are remote terms and mean very little to most in today’s world. Converts are hard to find in a hardened society.
A person will hardly be repentant unless he has first expressed faith, faith will always precede repentance. Why would anyone feel a need to repent if they do not know why they should experience such a sometimes humiliating and personal behavior.
It has often been said that repentance and faith are welded together. The result of the weld is referred to as conversion. The penitent turns from sin to Christ, and faith embraces Him as the only hope of salvation and a more saintly life. Faith and repentance will make one a convert but a convert is not immunized from sinning. A person may have a hope in his heart that once he has repented and has been converted to Christianity that he will be isolated from temptations but truth be known, temptations become evenstronger to many.
I was at one time, what some might call a radical convert, wanting to do everything the way I felt God would want me to. All it did was make my life and everyone else’s life, (those who cared for me), miserable. It is much more spiritually reasonable to live a normal human life and repent on Sunday by attending Sacrament meeting. That may sound shameful to some, but it became the only way that life, especially family life could be lived reasonably. That decision did not make me a bad person, but it did make me a better husband and father. There are no major indiscretions but a few little booboos each day and much greater tolerance for others. I welcome the Sabbath and the Sacrament. Christ had an advantage because he was half God, nevertheless He understood our plight. There were many examples of His understanding our difficult trial here on earth. Possibly the best example is the woman caught in adultery. “He who is without sin cast the first stone” They all walked away knowing that they too were not perfect. His only admonition to the woman was, “Go and sin no more.” The weekly Sacrament is a great reminder of the importance of living as clean a life as we can. He admonished the twelve at the scene of the Last Supper, after he broke the bread and prepared the wine He said, “Take, in remembrance of me.” To remember Him, the son of God, who came and experienced life and then gave His life in the most horrendous way, to satisfy the demands of justice so that we might live, and that eternally. That may be all we need to do on the Sabbath, is to simply ‘remember Him’ and what He did for each of us. Than, of course go and sin no more. That should be sufficient to turn from whatever we have done and live more wholesomely. God bless us to feel His compassion and to always be more compassionate towards others. Always remember this, ‘not one of the accusers cast a stone.’