Repentance, in part, is an act of retrospection. It is looking at and examining our past to present self, and discovering the iniquity in our lives. The yard stick to measure against is Jesus Christ. The final step is to take our sins, repent of our sins, then hand them over to Christ. Otherwise we will be left with a “weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us” (Hebrews 12:1).

We must understand that although we will never attain the perfection which is Christ while we are in this earthly body, we are never to retain the sin and guilt that we commit while here. Our goal is an ongoing, never ending process of discovery, repentance and relinquishing.

“Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14).

The straighter the line between self and Christ, the fewer the stumbling blocks of sin that will we encounter. Repentance and God’s mercy and grace of forgiveness rids us of the weight of sin, the process of the high calling keeps our path clear.

Bill Hitchcock