Reflections
“Repent and believe,” were the first three words of the gospel, coming from John the Baptist, and then Jesus. (see Mark 1:15) Indeed, they capture that which is necessary to be saved.
Ask: Repent of what? Repent primarily of the sin of unbelief – repent of the sin of not believing. Since Jesus already died for all of my sin, then the one sin that can keep me from Him is the sin of refusing to come to Him. Thus, the one sin we must repent of in order to come to Jesus is this same sin of neglecting to come to Jesus. This is the sin of unbelief. And if we do repent of unbelief, then we will – BELIEVE.
Likewise, if we believe, we are doing so only because we have repented of unbelief. Repent of unbelief and come to Christ and all of your other sins find resolution in Him.
Repentance is a change of moral mind and heart towards God. I repent of the sin of standing aloof of Christ, and in doing so, turn to Him by faith. I am then in touch with the One who died for all of my other sins.