Pete Rose isn't getting into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame anytime soon. Despite the fact that he is the all-time hits leader with more than 4,000, the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Rob Manfred, has denied his request to be reinstated from his lifetime ban.
The reason? Manfred put it this way: Pete Rose "hasn't presented credible evidence of a reconfigured life." You see, what got Rose into big trouble in the first place was that he bet on baseball games, including baseball games in which he was one of the managers. Rose admittedly still bets on baseball.
Manfred is looking for more than a simple, "I'm sorry."
And this is what is so interesting to me. Though he may call it "evidence of a reconfigured life," what Manfred is really looking for from Rose is repentance.
Because repentance is more than a simple, "I'm sorry." "Produce fruit in keeping with repentance" John the Baptist would have us remember. Repentance is a changing of the mind, going in a completely different direction. Beyond a simple apology, repentance is a changed life.
But here's the thing: repentance is a gift. A gift from God. Because on my own, I can't recognize the seriousness of my sin (let alone change my life) any more than a blind person can make himself see or a dead person can make himself live.
