Embrace truth; embrace love.

When talking about their mistakes, most people will tell you they do not regret them because they made them who they are today.The great thing about being a Christ-follower is that God tells you, “You don’t have to let those mistakes define you, instead let my grace define you.”

In truth, that first response is just a cop-out—a regurgitated mantra people say to try to convince themselves that they are self-sufficient, that they don’t have to repent, that one day they will be able to see all the puzzle pieces fit together and they will know that some divine power (be it a deity, the universe, whatever) lead them in the right direction without us ever needing to acknowledge it. While it is true that God shows us grace and mercy while we are yet sinners (Romans 5:8), there is no way to find true healing without coming to Him in humble repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10).

I’m convinced this is the reason why we see our world in disrepair. Without giving His grace permission to act on behalf of our failures, we’re just little sparks leaving fire trails behind us. We aren’t going to see the final consequences of our actions, whether good or bad, though we may see a sign or two along the way. There are a lot of people who live with such deep guilt because they cannot see a single hint of goodness in the result of their actions. Worse yet, some take their lives because they cannot see an end to the suffering in this world, whether by their own hand or another’s. Even those whose faith is in the Almighty do not always see the end result of their good deeds, and they get discouraged. These points-of-view all come from illusions of self-sufficient salvation. We all hope our lives are well spent and of worth in the end. But if we believe we can make ourselves worthy, or that we have fallen so far in the other direction as to no longer deserve life, we are sorely mistaken.

This is why repentance is essential. We cannot simply forgive one another and forgive ourselves and hope everything is okay. We have to come to true repentance before a holy God to receive the fullness of His grace in our lives. It is not something we can earn. Both the murderer and the philanthropist are in equal need of it. The Bible says that our righteousness is like filthy rags (literally, the equivalent of a used tampon) (Isaiah 64:6). Now that you have that gross image in your mind, imagine bringing that before the person you respect the most and saying, “I made this for you. Aren’t you proud of me?” That’s what it’s like when we try and tell ourselves we don’t need God because we are good enough on our own and our mistakes will just fade into the past. It’s repulsive. It’s worse than the person who knows they screwed up; “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God.” (Psalm 51:17). But we cannot remain broken forever.

Repentance before a holy God means that He has covered your blood-stained guilt with the blood of the Lamb and remembers them no more (Colossians 2:13-14). Imagine that—the God of the universe, the one who knows the beginning and ending of time will choose to forget everything you have ever done wrong! From that moment you accept Christ and repent of your sin (and each time you come to repentance thereafter) you put on the grace of the greatest sacrifice and that is what defines you—Christ is who defines you. And by dying on the cross he said that you are lovely, you are worth the sacrifice. And you know why? Because he loves you, and he knows that if you truly knew what his gift of salvation meant, you would accept it in a heartbeat.