For centuries, Christian teaching has given repentance a very bad name. We have been taught that to repent means you have to be sorry for your actions by feeling condemned, sorrowful and sad. God never intended for repentance to be approached like that.

True repentance should produce joy, not sadness. It’s a thing of heart between you and the Father, that, if approached correctly, frees you from weights that you have carried, maybe for a long time. It’s like God removing the rocks from your stream so you can flow with Him and others much better.

Wouldn’t you like to become more like the Lord? Keeping an open heart and correctly working the true principle of repentance (of just changing direction and loving the Lord), brings more maturity in you. It creates continually deeper experiences that mature your heart. As God meets you, He occasionally tests you to show you where you are in your relationship with Him. This again brings new levels of maturity. The more you mature, the more you welcome the testings to help you go deeper with Him.

The bottom line: repentance is simply an open heart before Him every day, that allows Him to work all His attributes in you. What a joyful thing!