Repentance is a church-y word that we use a lot without always defining. Repentance is a mental and physical response to God. It is us no longer looking at our sin with pleasure and identity, but turning away from it. The greek word for repentance means to change one’s mind. It is not just physically stopping a sin, but a mental recalibration too. It is a rethinking of our sin. It is looking at our life before Christ in God’s eyes and agreeing with God’s judgement of it. It is turning to God and believing in Him. It is us clinging to the cross knowing that salvation exists nowhere else.

Repentance in the Bible is coupled with the call to believe. This leads to asking, then what is belief? The way the Bible uses belief goes beyond a simple head knowledge. I believe that George Washington was the first president, but I do not believe in Jesus in the same way. I believe that Jesus took my sin in a way that is much deeper than my belief in George Washington as the first president. One belief is simple trivia. The other affects and continues to change my life and the way I view everything. That is the kind of belief we should have in Jesus.