Regret or Repentance?

No public figure is ever sorry for their bad actions anymore. Rather, the express “regret for my lapse in judgment” or some such phrase.

The dictionary gives two definitions for regret when used as a verb: “1.to feel sorrow or remorse for (an act, fault, disappointment, etc.): He no sooner spoke than he regretted it. 2. to think of with a sense of loss: to regret one’s vanished youth.”

It seems to me that the amount of sorrow in these public regrets is open to question, but that is not the point. What I would like to point out is the difference between regret and repentance.

It is easy to regret things we have done without any emotional commitment to it. I can regret not doing something sooner, but that doesn’t mean that I will act more promptly next time. I can regret saying something I said but not be changed so that it won’t happen again.

Regret is to repentance like wishing is to faith. When I regret, I wish that I had done something different. Repentance is different, however. When I allow God to move upon me, I can be broken for my sin. When I am broken, I can look to him in faith for the grace to truly change.

Repentance is the first concept of the gospel message. When John called out in the wilderness, his message was “repent and believe the good news” (Mark 1:15). After Jesus was baptized, he immediately went into the desert to be tempted by the devil. When he returned, he began to preach, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 4:17). When the twelve were sent out to prepare the way for Jesus, “they preached that people should repent” (Mark 6:12). On the day of Pentecost, Peter instructed the crowds to “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins” (Acts 2:38). This is an important concept.

In Romans 6-8, Paul presents the concept of not being merely forgiven of our sins, but of being free from them and their grip. One key is repentance—turning away from sin and devoting ourselves to God’s ways.

Let’s move beyond the mere emotional experience of regret and experience the freedom of repentance.