You have had thoughts and done things that have hurt others and yourself. You have suffered the consequences, sometimes not even realizing it, and sometimes realizing it all too well.

Thoughts and actions that harm our bodies, minds and relationships are sin. They oppose the nature of our Maker, who loves each person He has created. Our sins are ultimately against Him.

The Creator of mankind knows which thoughts and actions harm us and which benefit us. Like Adam and Eve, we think we know the difference between good and evil, but that knowledge is far beyond us! So we continue to think and do things that harm others and ourselves.

We need to stop and change. That is what repentance means!

Through the Bible, God reveals what sin is and how to repent of it. Stunningly, even most Christian churches don’t understand God’s law, sin and repentance. But, with your Bible, you can!

Our Creator’s nature and way of life is love (1 John 4:8). He has given the human beings He created His love as a law (Galatians 5:14; James 2:8). We have all broken that law and committed sin (Romans 3:23; 5:12; 1 John 1:8-10; 3:4).

Our thoughts and actions, our insistence that we define the knowledge of good and evil for ourselves, our very core motivations, are sinful. God tells us how deeply this is engrained in our nature in Jeremiah 17:9: “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (See also Romans 1:28-32; 8:7-8; James 4:1-3.)

We must not deceive ourselves and think that just because we haven’t committed the same harmful acts as others that we are not sinful. Each of us has a spiritual cancer deep within our hearts! Its ugly symptoms surface time and time again; beneath the surface, in ways you don’t even realize, it is stunting you, harming you and your relationships with others and with your Creator.

Paul asked, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Romans 7:24).

Real repentance, as revealed in the Bible, starts with accurately understanding how deeply sinful you are. It is far more than merely getting caught doing something wrong or feeling guilty or remorseful. It is a life-changing turning point!

True repentance is a moving, heartfelt experience (Joel 2:12-13). It is repentance not toward other human beings you have harmed but toward your Creator (Acts 20:21). To repent means to be so humbled and broken up about our rebellion against the living, holy God that we turn to Him in real sorrow and surrender and plead for His mercy and forgiveness.

Repentance means understanding not only that you have done wrong but that you are wrong. It means understanding that God defines right and wrong, and that you defining right and wrong is itself a sin.

It means realizing that God defines right and wrong through His law, and that His law is perfect and just—and the only true definition of love (Psalm 119:172; Romans 7:12; John 14:15, 15:10; 1 John 2:4-5; 2 John 5-6). Romans 13:8-10 says that “love is the fulfilling of the law.” Again, the Creator God defines love, and does so in His law.

The whole intent and purpose of the Ten Commandments is love because “God is love” (1 John 4:16). Jesus showed that God’s law has two basic aspects. The first shows us how to love God, which is the intent of the first four commandments. The second shows us how to love our neighbor—fellow human beings. The last six commandments teach this.

Jesus Christ summed up the entire law of God as “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself” (Matthew 22:37-39).

From the beginning of His ministry, Jesus’s message was about repentance from sin (Mark 1:14-15; Matthew 4:17; Luke 13:1-5). His disciples preached the same message (Luke 24:46-47; Acts 2; 3:19). In fact, just as He prophesied and commanded, His disciples today still preach His message of the Kingdom of God, believing the gospel and repenting.

Repentance is not merely a “religious” word. It literally means to turn, to change. True repentance requires a permanent change of direction. It is a total commitment to a course from which there is no turning back.

Repentance, by definition, changes your life. But don’t be overwhelmed: You can repent! You can beat that spiritual cancer. How? Not by relying on your own strength, but with the help of your all-powerful Creator God! The same overflowing good, mercy and grace by which He created the Earth, mankind and you individually “leadeth thee to repentance” (Romans 2:4). “The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart; and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit” (Psalm 34:18).

God can grant you repentance!

How is it possible for a human being to keep God’s law of love? What is the role of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice? What is the role of the Holy Spirit? What does God’s law say? To understand, turn to the scriptures cited, and request your free copy of How to Be an Overcomer, by Gerald Flurry.