I changed my mind

Ask any man involved in a home decor issue with a woman what is the one statement that they fear more than any other and it will be, “I’ve changed my mind!” Nothing, not blood, vomit or dismemberment, sends a shudder through the male body faster than this statement. Not many understand just how hard it is to ramp up all your energies to complete a task only to have it delayed or sidelined by indecisiveness on the part of another. But that is just what God has to deal with from us. Kinda turned the table and caught you with that one didn’t I? Let me explain.

God’s kingdom is already around us, every living soul, and even those not so living. We move and operate in it often without even knowing we’re doing so. Father has an agenda which we are all a part of, yes all of us are a part of it, not apart from it. The hazard we face is the claim, “I’ve changed my mind.” Often we don’t even make the claim but do things that fulfill it. Our actions betray our thoughts.

The new covenant believer is actually encouraged to change their mind quite frequently in God’s word. There are a couple of terms in the Greek writings known as metanoeō and metanoia. The English translation for these terms shows up as the word “repent” and “repentance”, two words that have almost the same affect on unbelievers and believers alike, a deep shudder. The reason is quite simple if you understand the meaning of another word, a word which is actually French, a word from about the 1300’s which is a lot like the Old English word from the same period. That word is “repentance” which comes from the word “penitence.”

Allow me for a moment to delve into this French word that we’ve been applying to our Greek-to-English translation. Beginning with the root word of “penitence,” this word means to be penitent, sorrowful for one’s wrongdoings. Now this brings us an interesting consideration around the issue of being penitent. Penitent as an adjective means to expressing sorrow for wrongdoing; however as a noun, as in a penitent person, it is a person who confesses sins and submits to a penance. Penance comes from the Latin word paenitentia and it means a punishment undertaken as a token for sin; a discipline imposed by church authority.

Okay, let’s look at this situation and rightly divide the word, or in this case words. We have on the one hand the Greek-to-English words repent/repentance versus the French-to-English word repent/repentance. All words appear to be identical in meaning simply because no one looks at what translation the word is representing. But there is a BIG difference.

Let’s consider this bible quote, offered to us by John the Baptist and later adopted by Jesus. “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand.” Does this mean, a.) Change your mind, change how you’re thinking about the kingdom of God not being near you, because it is all around you right now; or b.) get on your knees, snot and bawl about your unworthiness, confess your ineptitude to follow any commandments, ask for forgiveness promising to be better in the future and offer to sacrifice your time as punishment for your transgression BECAUSE the Kingdom of God in near. Which of these two scenarios do you believe to be the truth, A or B?

Before you jump in here with an answer how about thinking for a moment. I’m asking you to believe the truth belongs to either a.) the original Greek writings, or b.) a word 1,300 years after the events happened. Now I know that this is difficult to fathom that the entire concept of repentance in the church has been influenced by this blatant disregard to accuracy. Even those staunch theologians who have written volumes about the matter have been swayed by this propensity to flog a dead horse. So why am I even writing about this?

Someone said in a discussion the other day that we needed to “repent in our heart” for our actions. I almost fell off my chair! They obviously were sincere but ill-informed. You can’t change your heart. God does. He gives every new believer a new one, but that is the last one you get. Your mind on the other hand, you can change that as many times as you need to. Regrettably, this is not the attitude that this dear person was trying to communicate. They felt that we should get down on our faces with a contrite heart and wail for forgiveness before an all mighty God promising to change our ways of sinning (yes, that is exactly what I meant), to be better people and offer ourselves, our lives and commitment to His will, as the sacrifice required to see change.

Honey, pardon my abruptness, but you are too full of yourself and just what you think you have to offer. You need to realize that 2,000 years ago Jesus did all that needed to be done. He even admitted that it was finished. You, me, or anyone for that matter, who believes otherwise is just spitting in the wind. Sure it sometimes is good to the soul to get all genuflecting and snot up a storm about our sorrowful state of affairs -but – ultimately, the Father is just asking you to change your mind, not your goober-encrusted shirt. If you think that you must jump through some hoops and do a few dog-and-pony-tricks to make this change in your mind effective, go at it. It’s like those times when a child does something they are so proud of and they exclaim with glee, “Daddy, look at me!” and then they do it again and respond, “Daddy, look at me!” and then they do it again and respond, “Daddy, look at me!”and then they do it again and respond, “Daddy, look at me!”…are you getting the point? Once was great, but…grow up!

So the next time that you’re in a meeting and the speaker tells you that you need to repent for something, ask them if they mean repent according to the meaning of the Greek or according to the meaning of the Latin definition of a French word. Actually, you won’t even have to ask that if they are flagging people down to the altar. You’ll know right away that kids are trying to impress the Father again.