Repentance = Forgiveness

Luke 24:35-48:

The two disciples recounted what had taken place on the way, and how Jesus was made known to them in the breaking of bread. While they were still speaking about this, he stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” But they were startled and terrified and thought that they were seeing a ghost. Then he said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do questions arise in your hearts? Look at my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you can see I have.” And as he said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. While they were still incredulous for joy and were amazed, he asked them, “Have you anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of baked fish; he took it and ate it in front of them. He said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and in the prophets and psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. And he said to them, “Thus it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.”

Blog:

Yep – it’s that simple.  If we repent of our sins to God, He will forgive us.  Many people have a hard time with this Formula; that “repentance = forgiveness”.  In our earthly minds, we sometimes add-up all of the things that we’ve done wrong and how much we’ve sinned.  This self-doubt can cloud our minds at times; and, at times, we might start to question the Formula.  But the Truth is, we can never “out-sin” God’s Love for us; and, if we simply repent, He’ll forgive us.  There are many examples in the Bible of this instant-Blessing; including the woman caught in adultery (John 8:1-11), the criminal on the cross next to Christ at Calvary (Luke 23:32-43), and the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32); just to name a few.  Almost every Prophet, Disciple, and Apostle sinned greatly in this world – just think of Paul (who, as Saul, had Christians arrested and killed), Moses (who killed an Egyptian), David (who lusted after Bathsheba), and Peter denying Jesus three times the night of Jesus’ prosecution.  All of these people were forgiven by God for their sins, because they Believed in the Formula.  As an Engineer, I had to take four semesters of Calculus in college – it was a tough subject that I had to drop-out of in high school (I just wasn’t ready for it then).  But calculus was a core requirement in college and I had to take it in order to receive a bachelor’s degree.  So, I had to be ready for it now.  One of my college professors put it so well to the class; he said, “you don’t have to fully understand the equation to trust that it works.”  While we can’t completely understand the Formula of “repentance = forgiveness” in our earthly minds, we must grow in our Faith to get ready for It as it is a Core Requirement to getting a Saintly Degree from the Eternal University.  So, let’s all do our best to just Trust the Eternal Professor that the Formula works.