We don't use the word repent very often in our modern world.  Instead we have very

calculatedly crafted substitutes that are much more palatable.  We hear people say, "I made a mistake", "It was a poor choice",  "I know I have disappointed you" -- all the time avoiding the words "I'm sorry".  The act of repentance carries with it deep implications that lead to an abundant life.

Michael Lodahl wrote, "In the Bible, to repent simply means 'to turn around.' The implication is that a person who repents turns away from a life of sin and idolatry and toward the gracious love and will of God. ...Human beings are called to turn around, reorient their hearts and lives, and live a radically new way..."

Psalm 51

1. To repent means we take responsibility.  In Psalm 51:4 King David wrote, "Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight; so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge."
2. Repentance includes true humility before God. In verse 17 we read, "My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit"
3. Repentance includes a plea for mercy. "Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me." (verse 11)
4. Repentance includes a desire for change. "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me." (verse 10)
5. It is only through God's grace and power that we are able to repent. "Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." (verse 12)
6. Reptance requires a change of direction.  In John 8:11, Jesus told the woman who had been forgiven to, "Go now and leave your life of sin."

A wonderful example of repentance is found in the woman caught in adultry.

Go and Leave Your Life of Sin

John 8:2-11

At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them. 3 The teachers of the law and the Pharisees brought in a woman caught in adultery. They made her stand before the group 4 and said to Jesus, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery. 5 In the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" 6 They were using this question as a trap, in order to have a basis for accusing him.

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. 7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"

11 "No one, sir," she said.

"Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin."