As a Christian the cornerstone of our faith is the key to repentance. It is an important ingredient to turning toward God and finding that our faith deepens. The key to faith is the topic of today’s episode.

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The key to repentance begins with a realization that you have sinned. Just like an person who suffers from drugs, alcoholism or some other form of substance abuse in order to get better you first have to recognize you have a problem! This problem is then addressed and the first order of business is to repent.

We can break it down to repentance to anything contrary to Biblical teachings that crop into our thoughts, our words and manifested in our deeds. This happens over the course of time, making one bad decision after another, and another. These decisions often lead us down the road to difficulties for us and for our families. This is why it is important to surround ourselves with people who are uplifting and likeminded in our Christian walk.

But the good news is that repentance is a first step in following God. In accepting the Lord, at some point in you life you made a decision. The decision was not only to recognize sin and renounce it – but to promise to “sin no more.” Repentance is taught throughout scripture. The first teaching our Lord gave is in Matthew 4:17 –  From that time on Jesus began to preach, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

He was announcing that He was ready to begin his public ministry, and now he asks others to join him.

The Lord asked us to repent and then went on to find “fishers of men,” the apostles. He saw Simon and Peter and his brother Andrew. He asked them in Matthew 4:19 “Come follow me…” Then he found two more Simon Called Peter and his brother Andrew. He called them as well.

He invited them to join His mission of conversion of the world to Christianity. Of course it wasn’t called Christianity at that time, but we have come to recognize Christ as the Messiah, the second person of the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit in that order. When we repent the Lord opens our lives to an entirely new way of thinking.

This invitation is for us as well, are we ready to drop our nets and follow him? The nets in our life can be the very things that keep us bound to worldly pursuits and away from a deeper relationship with the Almighty. I’m not talking about caring for our family, or working, I’m talking about those things that keep us bound. The pull of the internet or social media. One friend shared that she checked Facebook every few minutes because she had the fear of missing out of not knowing what was going on with her friends. She finally realized that it was pulling her away from what she needed to do each day, and made sure to set a time limit for visiting the website, and then eventually rarely if ever visited.

This may seem extreme but each one of us has to analyze what the pull is on our life. Are we drawn to something of value or to a waste of time? I know that when I visit social media for work I get drawn in on what my friends and family are doing and I can waste so much time. So, I rarely use social media. Again, each of us has to decide for themselves. Is social media a sin — of course not, but if it is uses for sinful actions we need to be aware and take heed. Repent and move on!

God is in the today – He is here to give us the graces we need each and every day. Repentance is like taking a shower and washing off all the grime, it is like putting on a white robe of righteousness and vowing to take a step in the right direction. One. Step. At. A. Time. Is it easy, no. It can only be done by God’s grace, so pray and ask Him for it!

1. Ask the Lord to call to mind areas of sin in need of repentance.
   
2. If you can, go to confession (Catholics). This is a sacrament of grace.
   
3. Ask the Lord for forgiveness.
   
4. Ask the person you have harmed (if any) for forgiveness.
   
5. Ask God for the grace to sin no more!
   

Repentance allows us to heal, not only from our human and bodily illness but from spiritual illness. In Matthew 23, after asking us to repent, and asking the apostles (and us by extension) he began to teach and heal. Matthew 4:23-25 (Read on air.)

What great news! Amen and Alleluia. What comes with repentance? Healing.

God gives us the grace, especially with prayer and fasting to live a life that contains self-control and is godly. We begin good habits, avoid the near occasion of sin, whether it is social media, television or other sources. Whatever it is, ask God for the grace to have the control to avoid it! There is power in God’s grace. The first step is to want it and to receive it.

When we repentant there is a painful element of purification. This can be as I just shared by asking those we hurt to forgive us, but there is more. We must understand the reason we sinned in the first place. Getting to the root cause helps us to avoid getting into this sin, again. Maybe you think you can’t do it — you can’t change. But, if we find that difficult to repent we must remember the sacrifice of Christ.

Christ died and suffered for a sin that He did not commit. Yet, He did it for us. John the Baptist was put into prison through no fault of his own.

In Mark 1:15-15 (Read on air.)

Jesus said that the time had come and His Kingdom has come. And once again we read “Repent and believe the good news!”

Repentance is a gift that God gives us to change our ways. It is a mission for us, and we can be transformed. Through the life, death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ he calls us with His love and mercy. I pray you search out the way the truth and the life John 14:6 – Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Amen and Amen, let’s seek goodness and truth each day, beginning now.

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