Friends: God’s grace is with us even when we don’t know it … and it makes one think.  Blessings to all, Bob

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Spirituality Column #976

July 29, 2025

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Acts of Repentance, Part 3

By Bob Walters

“Do not conform to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” – Paul, Romans 12:2

I smoked cigarettes for 13 years and quit January 1, 1994.  It was the year I would turn 40 years old in May, and through the end of 1993 I had made up my mind that I wanted to see my two young sons (then ages 6 and almost 2) grow up.

Telling no one, I simply didn’t smoke on January 1, and then the next day and the next and by mid-month a few people noticed.  But to them I said only, “Shhh…;” I was “doing it on my own.” Now 31-and-a-half cigarette-free years later, I’m still around to see Eric, 37, and John, 33, thriving and raising their families.  Mission accomplished.

I would not meet Jesus until 2001, and on reflection shortly after being baptized it occurred maybe I did not truly “do it on my own.” Proud as I had been of my own will in quitting, maybe the Holy Spirit, even years earlier, may have provided a strength I did not truly possess. Btw, it was Eric, 13, who, in August 2001, suggested we go to church.

Great friend and now deceased minister Russ Blowers called this potentially holy gambit “prevenient grace” – a term from Luther (or Calvin) – meaning that Jesus is watching out for us even before we acknowledge it. That made sense then, and even moreso as I’ve grown in faith to believe God, Jesus, and the Spirit always pursue us.

I bring this up not because I necessarily conquered my own sin or, more likely, my own stupidity, but because my mind changed and then my actions changed. Whether or not smoking cigarettes even qualifies as a sin – coach Bob Knight famously called smoking “stupid and harmful” – I hold up the discipline it took to quit smoking with a nod of thanks to the hand from above that I now believe saw me through it.

My point is to encourage us to read the Bible and truly look for all the places where it is the renewing of the mind, the change of heart, the thinking, and the attitudinal “turning around” that seals our faith in Christ. We become obedient not out of guilt, hopefully, but out of love fired by knowing the truth of Jesus.

Any English dictionary one picks up defines “repent,” initially, as to be sorry, feel guilty, or to “express sincere remorse or regret for something we’ve done.” I certainly get that, but I wouldn’t limit it only to sin. Let’s include all laments, like the things I’ve done in life that made me embarrassed, humiliated, or created self-inflicted trouble (like losing my temper over something silly). Not doing dumb stuff surely improves our lives.

The “pattern of the world” is at odds with seeing repentance first as a thinking exercise. Not to be cynical, but a person who feels guilty or shamed is far easier to control than a person whose heart, soul, and mind live with Jesus as Lord and Savior.

But action must accompany renewal.  Pharisee Nicodemus (John 3) had a pretty good idea who Jesus really was but could not break the chains of the Law. Paul may well be the greatest example of repentance in the Bible, with his mind and behavior changing from avenging Pharisee to sacred apostle and preacher, dying for Christ.

We see Philip in Acts 8 helping the traveling Ethiopian official who was reading scripture but didn’t understand, presumably, the prophecy of the Messiah Christ. He was ready to grow, his repentance magnified by understanding what Philip told him.

Each of us can repent and grow every day, strengthening our divine relationship, expanding our knowledge, and conforming not to the world, but to Christ. It’s not an act.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) believes in free will (how else can one truly love?), God’s help, Jesus’s witness, and the Spirit’s intervention. Renewed thinking is the key.