What does repentance mean in everyday life?
The Greek word used in most translations is metanoia, which, many learned in Sunday School, means “to turn around.”
But Jesus spoke Aramaic.
According to the Meaningful Spirits website, the Aramaic word is Tube.
If we look for the original Aramaic meaning of repent, we find the word Tube (root: tab). In Aramaic, this doesn’t mean feeling sorry for your sins. It literally means “to return” or “to come back to your original source.”
Jesus wasn’t demanding you grovel before an angry deity. He was issuing an invitation to come home. He was saying, “Return to your true nature.” It is a call to restoration, not punishment.
Meaningful Spirits: “The Homecoming of ‘repent.'”
It doesn’t sound so daunting in Aramaic, does it?
So what does repentance really mean?
Changing your way of life.
Coming home, like the Prodigal Son, to the God who loves you and died so you can be forgiven.
That means leaving behind actions, attitudes, and behaviors that are not part of “home.”
It means choosing not to sin anymore.
But when you do sin and want to repent:
- Confess whatever you did to God,
- Ask forgiveness of those whom you have wronged.
- Accept God’s forgiveness.
What is our eternal home?
Life with Christ, the Holy Spirit, and God the Father.
For those who believe, home is where the Godhead welcomes us.
It’s peace with God, ourselves, and others.
The best way to get home is:
- To admit and confess our wrongdoing to God.
- To ask those we’ve hurt or wronged to forgive us.
- To give our own pain and disappointment to God–and believe He forgives us.
- Recognizing Jesus loved us so much that He died for our sake, to forgive our sins and invite us home.
Yes, you’ve seen the same answer twice.
Repentance and the people we’ve wronged
People often get “hung up” on forgiveness, repentance, and what they mean — both to themselves and to others.
Maybe you’ve had a five-year-old who knows he has to ask a sibling for forgiveness?
The child will toss off a “sorry,” and expect the sibling to say, “You’re forgiven.”
A child I knew once responded, “No. I won’t forgive you. I don’t think you mean it.”
The first child then started crying because the sibling wouldn’t forgive.
What would you do?
Repentance, of course, means to genuinely regret what you did. You want to make it as if it never happened.
People can tell if you regret what you did. If they’re Christians, they know they are called to forgive.
“And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)
Too often, there’s nothing we can do about the past, about what we did.
It’s hard to apologize for something we cannot make right.
And yet, if we don’t apologize, the person we’ve wronged lives with a hurt that’s hard to forget.
How to “make it right” for the person you’ve harmed?
Swallow your pride and fear.
Go to the person you have wronged.
Tell them you’re sorry.
If possible, do something to reverse the pain.
For example, if you stole money, return it.
If you lied to others about them, go to those others and tell the truth. (Then apologize to the person you slandered.)
Too many people walk through life carrying a hurt that never stops aching.
Someone did something to them and never apologized to them.
You may be absolved of your guilt–Jesus forgives you.
But, if when you pray, the person you hurt keeps coming to mind–go to them and ask for forgiveness.
You’ll feel a lot better–but more importantly, so will they.
And the peace of God that surpasses all understanding
will guard your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.
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