Must we repent every day?

[teresa]

Every day, should we confess that we are a sinner and ask for forgiveness?

 

[HereIStand]

Yes. It's a good frame of mind to stay in.

 

[Call me Nic]

Every day, should we confess that we are a sinner and ask for forgiveness?

You should continually turn from the sin in your life as much as possible, but "repenting of your sin" is a work according to Jonah 3:10. To turn from your evil way is works, and Ephesians 2:8-9 says that we're saved by grace through faith and not by works.

To live a holy life is to offer sacrifices of righteousness, which are a broken and contrite heart according to Psalms 51:16-17; to have godly sorrow over your sin. In terms of salvation, all you have to do is believe on Jesus Christ and confess with your mouth and you will be saved. Once you're saved, you pass from death into life, you're born again and nothing can separate you from the love of God - you're always saved. As disciples of Christ though, we're commanded to walk in the Spirit to resist the flesh, thereby resisting temptation to sin. If we sin, however, the Lord will forgive us because of the blood of Christ.

So the short answer is: you should, yes. Do you HAVE to? No, technically speaking.

 

[Call me Nic]

You should continually turn from the sin in your life as much as possible, but "repenting of your sin" is a work according to Jonah 3:10. To turn from your evil way is works, and Ephesians 2:8-9 says that we're saved by grace through faith and not by works.

To live a holy life is to offer sacrifices of righteousness, which are a broken and contrite heart according to Psalms 51:16-17; to have godly sorrow over your sin. In terms of salvation, all you have to do is believe on Jesus Christ and confess with your mouth and you will be saved. Once you're saved, you pass from death into life, you're born again and nothing can separate you from the love of God - you're always saved. As disciples of Christ though, we're commanded to walk in the Spirit to resist the flesh, thereby resisting temptation to sin. If we sin, however, the Lord will forgive us because of the blood of Christ.

So the short answer is: you should, yes. Do you HAVE to? No, technically speaking.

But I am NOT advocating that we be lazy and not repent or ask forgiveness. I'm speaking strictly from a salvation standpoint.

 

[Myychael]

Every day, should we confess that we are a sinner and ask for forgiveness?

Hi Hope,
Just think of it this way when you pray your getting to spend some time with your Heavenly Father
And that’s a good thing he wants to hear from you Jesus paid a great price so you can come boldly to the throne of his Grace.Hope not only confess your sins but talk to him tell how great he is sing him a song a father likes to hear from his Children tell him your needs not necessarily your wants but your problems and what you would like to see happen in your life.I believe if your living in the will of GOD
He will give you the desires of your heart.unless he has something else planned for you.

 

[ViaCrucis]

Every day, should we confess that we are a sinner and ask for forgiveness?

The word repentance is translated from the Greek word used in the New Testament, metanoia, which fairly literally means a change of mind (meta "change" + noia, from nous "mind"). In the beginning of Mark's Gospel we read Jesus saying, "The kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the good news!" It may be easy to simply think that Jesus is only saying "ask for forgiveness" but we have another interesting case from the first century to look at to maybe give us more insight:

The first century Jewish historian Flavius Josephus was a witness to the Jewish-Roman War which resulted in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple; Josephus recounts how he encountered a violent Zealot (the Zealots were freedom fighters/terrorists who believed in violent and militant action against the Romans, and were largely responsible for the Jewish-Roman War and caused a great deal of bloodshed of their fellow Jews) to whom he said, "Repent and follow me." Josephus was, in essence, saying, "Change the way you're doing things, change the way you're thinking, and come see how I do things"

When Jesus says "Repent and believe the good news" He is calling people to a new way of thinking, a new way of living, one that is ultimately defined by the kingdom of God and Himself as the Messiah and King of that kingdom. A major part of that is confession of our sins, and a penitential spirit of remorse over our sin--those are vital aspects of repentance, of regular repentance. But repentance is more than simply screwing up and saying "Oops, my bad", it is about recognizing in oneself the deep wrong wrought by sin and the truth of God's Law to speak to us which in being holy and commanding our perfect and just obedience shows us just how unrighteous, how unjust, how disobedient we are. It's so bad, in fact, that even when we try to be righteous we compound our sin--because when we try to be obedient and fail we have sinned even more; and so the Law compounds sin, the Law has caused our trespass to increase as St. Paul says.

Repentance also looks to the Gospel, it sees the Cross where the naked and battered, crucified body of Jesus is; it sees the empty tomb where our Lord has become victor over sin, death, hell, and the devil. Repentance therefore looks to Christ, it finds forgiveness in Him, what He has done. And even as the Law has driven us to our knees in despair over sin, the Gospel clothes us with the perfect and clean robes of Christ's righteousness, for we are freely justified by God's grace which is ours in Jesus, through faith, not by any efforts we have done, but as pure gift.

In all of this repentance compels us to a different way of thinking, a different way of looking at the world, one that isn't defined by the ways of this world, but of God's kingdom. Because where God is King the lowly, the poor, the hungry, the unwanted, the unloved, and the unlovely have a place at God's Table, the least are greatest, the last is first. It is not a crown of glory we aspire, but we look to He who bore the crown of thorns. Because this kingdom is not shaped like all the kingdoms of this world, it is shaped like a Cross on which the Lord of glory was slain, for us.

Repentance, therefore, should be every day, and more than every day, all day. Every hour, all the time. As St. Paul says, "Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." and also, "Have this same mind in you that was in Christ Jesus, who though being in the form of God did not consider equality with God something to be exploited, but emptied Himself, taking on the form of a slave in human likeness."

-CryptoLutheran

 

[dreadnought]

Every day, should we confess that we are a sinner and ask for forgiveness?

Technically, "repent" means "change," so you only want to repent when you sin.

 

[Greg J.]

Every day, should we confess that we are a sinner and ask for forgiveness?

That depends on what is in your heart. Most people that perceive they must repent every day are expressing false guilt, and not really repenting. It's something that our culture programs people with.

Once you have recognized that in this life you are tainted with sin (that you can't do anything about) and confessed that sin, you don't necessarily need to keep doing so (but could). This is a part of salvation—recognizing that you cannot cleanse yourself and require God's forgiveness and grace. But this does not stem from feeling guilty about your sins, because if you do not sin, you are not guilty of that sin. It is sin that you inherited through no decision or action of your own.

Repentance is accompanied by a genuine commitment to stop doing that sin. If you genuinely repent and stop committing that sin, you don't have to repent again. (You've stopped committing that sin.) If you genuinely repent but end up falling to temptation, search your heart to see whether you really want to stop that sin or not. If you do, you will make an effort in that direction along with confessing it. Have you really made the decision to stop, or are you just trying to relieve guilt? You can drive yourself batty trying to intellectually resolve the apparent contradiction between you having a sinful nature, you being purified in Christ, and having stopped some sins but not other sins. This is one of a Christian's common and major reasons we seek God's help for resolution.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9, 1984 NIV)

I recommend that you if you are saved, try not confessing unknown sins. It is a good way to identify whether you are confessing from false sense of guilt or not. You are pure and holy in Christ, and how that works with your sinning is something God will have to reveal to/in you. If you never experience the truth that you are holy and good, then you may have inordinate false guilt that needs to be resolved, as well as learning more about the Truth. Remember that Jesus Christ has cleansed you completely. Neither you nor God needs to do anything more for you to be purified in Christ.

You are not responsible for sins you do not commit. A Christian psychologist or counseling-type pastor would be helpful in cases where you feel driven to confess when you are not aware of any wrongdoing.

Note that there is a place for confessing the sins of your family and the communities you belong to, but that is because you recognize that you a part of a whole, that each person affects and is affected by the whole, and that the whole is sinning.

 

[teresa]

@Greg J. no, tbh, I don't feel false guilt. I repent everyday bc I know of my failings and I do enjoy telling god I'm sorry, yet was wondering if god himself wanted me to repent every day.

i thought it was just me enjoying saying prayers for help with my sin and asking for forgiveness.

i began to wonder if god minded if i forgot to pray on really bad days, so therefore I was considered more broken in his eyes, bc I hadn't kept up my walk.

make sense?

I want to walk with him every day

I feel called to do this

 

[teresa]

ps-on a lighter note, one of my many sins is swearing like a sailor, no kidding.

I KNOW my failings and I don't have false guilt!

 

[Greg J.]

@Greg J. no, tbh, I don't feel false guilt. I repent everyday bc I know of my failings and I do enjoy telling god I'm sorry, yet was wondering if god himself wanted me to repent every day.

i thought it was just me enjoying saying prayers for help with my sin and asking for forgiveness.

i began to wonder if god minded if i forgot to pray on really bad days, so therefore I was considered more broken in his eyes, bc I hadn't kept up my walk.

make sense?

I want to walk with him every day

I feel called to do this

False guilt: feeling like you need forgiveness when you do not need forgiveness or are already forgiven.

He does not mind, but he wants you to know the truth and have the confidence that you are forgiven after you repent. After all, it is he who does the forgiving, and once it is done he doesn't need to repeat it. We need to forgive for our sake.

“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. (Isaiah 43:25, 1984 NIV)

Why would one continue to seek forgiveness for something that God has already "forgotten" about? (will no longer hold against the person, or even bring it up)

“This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’ For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. (Matthew 6:9-15, 1984 NIV)

Are you forgiving people for their trespasses against you when they have not trespassed against you since you last forgave them? Keep forgiving them and ask for God's help to forgive them until you truly have forgiven them (won't hold it against them ever again or bring it up). Then you have finished forgiving them. IMO it is the same between us and God. Seek the Lord's forgiveness until you know you have really meant it, then you can stop.

Seeking to be forgiven for things you haven't done may indicate a lack of faith in God's forgiveness, which is something we should be fighting against. (Romans 14:23b)

(Sometimes we seek to humble ourselves before God and seek to recognize his sovereignty and role as our Judge. Sometimes we do that by stirring up our feeling of sorrow over our sins, but that is not what I have been talking about. I am talking about what happens after you have committed specific sins.)

 

[Petros2015]

Every day, should we confess that we are a sinner and ask for forgiveness?

You are on a journey. Every day, check your compass and make course corrections as necessary.

 

[Dave-W]

ps-on a lighter note, one of my many sins is swearing like a sailor, no kidding.

If you are truly repenting, then you should be changing your life style (and language style) and stop the swearing.

 

[teresa]

its hard to stop swearing in my neighbor hood, lol!

I'm trying to cut back with gods help

 

[teresa]

You are on a journey. Every day, check your compass and make course corrections as necessary.

LOVE this answer. Its a perfect fit for my query

 

[Greg J.]

its hard to stop swearing in my neighbor hood, lol!

I'm trying to cut back with gods help

I know how hard this is. Even after you have mostly stopped, there will be pressure to do it for a long time. As you suggest, hearing swear words regularly makes it even harder.

Consider why people swear: we've learned to express certain emotions with certain swear words. Any ol' swear word doesn't necessarily fit a specific situation for which you have associated that situation with one swear word.

It helps a lot to try to discipline yourself to not express that emotion, typically trying to emphasize how bad an idea strikes you or trying to convey your reaction is not small, but big—that is, using a word to emphasize an extreme reaction. If you learn not to let yourself overemphasize a feeling, you will not have to fight whether to swear or not when that feeling comes. (This can also be difficult, though.)