Wise Words on Repentence

"No Regrets?"
I regret nothing, says arrogance; I will regret nothing, say inexperience.
Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach

"Think About It"
Reflection is the beginning of reform.
Mark Twain

"The Root Of The Problem"
There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root.
Henry David Thoreau

"Wiser Today"
A man should never be ashamed to own he has been in the wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
Alexander Pope

"Pain Can Plant The Flag"
No doubt Pain as God's megaphone is a terrible instrument; it may lead to final and unrepented rebellion. But it gives the only opportunity the bad man can have for amendment. It removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul.
C.S. Lewis

"A Time To Grieve"
The more grievous a man's sins seem to him, the readier God is to forgive them...They are annihilated as if they had never happened, if only the repentance be whole.
Meister Eckhart

"When Suffering Is Mercy"
Suffering is God's design in this sin-soaked world (Romans 8:20). It portrays sin's horror for the world to see. It punishes sin's guilt for those who do not believe in Christ. It breaks sin's power for those who take up their cross and follow Jesus...there is no greater joy than joy in the greatness of God. And if we must suffer to see this and savor it most deeply, then suffering is a mercy.
John Piper

"Lose No Experience"
Misfortune and experience are lost upon mankind when they produce neither reflection nor reformation.
Thomas Paine

"The Split Second"
Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied.
Pearl S. Buck

"From Stone To Flesh"
Swords will be beaten into plowshares only after hearts of stone are changed into hearts of flesh.
Anonymous

"Laying Down Your Arms"
...fallen man is not simply an imperfect creature who needs improvement: he is a rebel who must lay down his arms. Laying down your arms, surrendering, saying you are sorry, realising that you have been on the wrong track and getting ready to start life over again from the ground floor-that is the only way out of a "hole." This process of surrender-this movement full speed astern-is what Christians call repentance. Now repentance is no fun at all. It is something much harder than merely eating humble pie. It means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into for thousands of years. It means killing part of yourself, undergoing a kind of death...If you ask God to take you back without it, you are really asking Him to let you go back without going back. It cannot happen...
C.S. Lewis

"The Sooner The Better"
To-morrow I'll reform, the fool does say; To-day itself's too late; - the wise did yesterday.
Benjamin Franklin

"The Deep Work Of True Conversion"
When you come to Christ, He doesn’t just patch you up. He renews you. He doesn’t just salve your sins. He saves you. He doesn’t just reform you. He transforms you by His power. Conversion is a deep work. It goes throughout your entire being, throughout your mind, throughout the members of your body, throughout your life—your social life, your business life, your family life, your neighborhood life. You become a partaker of God’s nature.
Billy Graham

"God's Planting The Flag of Truth"
No doubt Pain as God's megaphone is a terrible instrument; it may lead to final and unrepented rebellion. But it gives the only opportunity the bad man can have for amendment. It removes the veil; it plants the flag of truth within the fortress of a rebel soul.
C.S. Lewis

"You Are What You Do"
Personality change follows change in behavior. Since we are what we do, if we want to change what we are we begin by changing what we do, [and] must undertake a new mode of action.
Allen Wheelis

"Skip The Cover Up"
Most of our faults are more pardonable than the means we use to conceal them."
Francois duc de la Rochefoucauld

"From Bad To Worse"
Neglect mending a small Fault, and 'twill soon be a great One
Benjamin Franklin

"Retaining No Souvenirs of Hell"
I do not think that all who choose wrong roads perish; but their rescue consists in being put back on the right road. A wrong sum can be put right: but only by going back till you find the error and working it afresh from that point, never by simply going on. Evil can be undone, but it cannot 'develop' into good. Time does not heal it. The spell must be unwound, bit by bit, 'with backward mutters of dissevering power' - or else not. It is still 'either-or'. If we insist on keeping Hell (or even earth) we shall not see Heaven: if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell. I believe, to be sure, that any man who reaches Heaven will find that what he abandoned (even in plucking out his right eye) has not been lost: that the kernel of what he was really seeking even in his most depraved wishes will be there, beyond expectation, waiting for him in 'the High Countries'...But what, you ask, of earth?...I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell: and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself.
C.S. Lewis

"Progressive Or Pigheaded?"
We all want progress. But progress means getting nearer to the place where you want to be. And if you have taken a wrong turning, then to go forward does not get you any nearer. If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man. We have all seen this when doing arithmetic. When I have started a sum the wrong way, the sooner I admit this and go back and start again, the faster I shall get on. There is nothing progressive about being pig-headed and refusing to admit a mistake. And I think if you look at the present state of the world, it is pretty plain that humanity has been making some big mistakes. We are on the wrong road. And if that is so, we must go back. Going back is the quickest way on.
C.S. Lewis

"Stop Dilly-Dallying"
I have developed a distaste for the word “struggling”—as in “I am struggling with anger” (or lust, or homosexuality, or a bad temper, etc.). It is a perfectly good word, and I know there are some people who are really “struggling.” But many other people are spoiling the word for everybody. They are using “struggling” to mean something more like “repeatedly giving in”—which is almost the opposite of “struggling,” seems to me.

I wonder what Jesus would say (will say) when we all come to give an account:

“For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God, and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?” (1 Peter 4:17)

When that day comes, Christ will ask each of his children if we “fought the good fight” and “kept the faith” and were workmen with no need to be ashamed (2 Timothy 2:15). The Word says:

“In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Hebrews 12:4).

The point is that you should.

So today on my prayer walk I had to repent of some dilly-dallying in a particular sin. I had to make up my mind to put to death the wavering (1 Kings 18:21) and to resolve, by God’s grace, to obey what I know his Word says.
Andree Seu