Metanoia

 

It’s that time of year when resolutions are made.  When we make commitments to do better and be better.  Workout, eat healthy, lose weight, get more sleep, reduce time spent scrolling on the smart phone, read books, listen more, talk less, go to church, study the bible, pray, mend fences, save money, stop cursing, give up alcohol, learn a new language, clean up the garage, say you’re sorry and mean it. 

Pick one or more of these and just do it, right? This year it’s going to be different, you’re serious. But in a matter of weeks, or in a couple of months if you were really serious, old habits and patterns of behavior creep back into your life. Resolutions are revised, goalposts get moved and motivation fades.

Often Christians treat repentance like resolutions.  We feel guilty about something bad we’ve been doing or something good left undone.   As with resolutions, repentance tends to be pretty much hit or miss, mostly miss.  But ultimately our sins will find us out and betray us. We might claim to “hate” sin, but mostly we hate other peoples’ sins. We may even claim to “hate” some of our own sins.  But until we see them clearly and completely, we will keep going back for more.  Even after our sins have harmed us or the people we love, we make excuses and drift back into them.

The Greek word “metanoia” is found throughout the New Testament. It translates as repent or repentance and literally means “a change of mind”.  Christians tend to find themselves in a vicious cycle of changing their minds: turning away from sin and then returning to it. Even the great Apostle Paul found himself struggling: “I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.” Romans 7: 18b-19

He then goes on to say, “But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is the sin living in me that does it.” Romans 7: 20

While it may sound like Paul is letting himself off the hook, he’s actually making the point that as long as we are in these earthly bodies we will forever struggle with sin. He goes on to say, “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So, you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.” Romans 7: 25.

What Paul is not saying is to just give up and give in to your sinful nature. It is a war that we’ll be fighting as long as we live. But we can win a few more battles if we are honest about our sins and, more importantly, the consequences of those sins. By the grace of God, we have eternal salvation but make no mistake our sins are still doing damage in the here and now and will be judged in the hereafter.  So perhaps it’s never too late to try a bit of “metanoia.”…and mean it this time.