The Price of Repenting...

Repentance doesn’t appear to be very popular. Prophets have become martyrs for proclaiming it and nations and peoples have destroyed themselves rather than do anything about it. But however unpopular or unpalatable, repentance is one of the most essential and satisfying principles that God has given – for we are none of us perfect; we none of us, turn in a perfect performance; we are, none of us, without need of the principle of repentance. Without it our lives would be futile and frustrated.

In a sense, any improvement is repentance – any straightening of a road, any saving of danger of distance; any improving of a process, any abandoning of old errors of inefficient ways is repentance. Repentance is a principle of progress.

Now as to some things to repent of: we could consider repentance form procrastination, from wasting time, from with holding work; repentance from getting too deeply into debt; repentance for too little appreciation of out loved ones, or for what is done for us by others; repentance form letting life slip by without attending to the things that matter most; keeping closer to those who mean the most; repentance form indifference to what we ought to be doing; repentance from brooding too much upon the past; and for too little faith in the future.

Now as to the nature of repentance: It is more than saying we’re sorry, more than the embarrassment or discomfort of being caught, more than fear, more than an effort to avoid punishment of penalties. It is a sincere change inside, a sincere turning in a different direction, as suggested by the Master when he said: “Go, and sin no more.” Such repentance lets us live with others with a quiet conscience.

People have sometimes supposed that repentance was too high priced. They have looked at what they would have to give up, at habits and appetites they would have to break of abandon, at things they would have to set aside, and have forgotten that no matter what the price of repenting, it is never so high as the price of not repenting—and mo later hour is ever better for repenting than this very hour is.