Repent And Repeat?

Q

I was speaking to a friend of mine about repentance. He said when you’ve truly repented you can’t do again what you’ve repented from. He said if you do it again anytime your life it means you didn’t repent in the first place. This confused me because there are things that I repented from them honestly but I find myself doing them again although I do not like to do them. Have I not truly repented?

A

Common sense should tell you what your friend said can’t be true. We all commit the same sins repetitively. Repent means to change our mind about certain behavior and admit that it’s sinful. It doesn’t mean we’ll never do it again. If it did, then the phrase “Repent and be saved” would mean “stop sinning and then you can be saved.”

One of the biggest hurdles to overcome before we can be saved is to admit we’re sinners because people who don’t think they’re sinners don’t think they need a Savior. First we have to change our mind about our behavior and admit that it is sinful. Once we’ve done that we can begin to see our need for a Savior.