Evangelist J. Edwin Orr said that "the first word of the gospel" is repentance. It's a turning away from sin and toward the Lord. The prophet Zechariah cried out to the people of Israel to repent and return to the Lord: "Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds" (Zech. 1:4).

Salvation begins with repentance. It involves a change of mind about sin, which leads to belief in Jesus Christ and brings us the forgiveness of God. Yet repentance is more than a once-for-all act that initiates salvation. It is an ongoing choice--a change of mind that sees sin as wrong, confesses it, and rejects it.

Martin Luther put it this way in the first of the 95 theses he nailed to the door of the Wittenberg church: "When our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said 'repent,' He willed that the entire life of a believer be one of repentance." It's an ongoing mindset toward sin.

Here's the point. The change of mind that is the heart of repentance should become a pattern of thinking--a lifestyle. Even though we are secure in Christ, we must continue to see sin through God's eyes and acknowledge it as evil. And when we sin, let's repent, confess our wrongdoing, and receive the forgiveness of God.  — David C. Egner