The other day, when I was in traffic, the man in front of me was driving a black Jeep. On the back of the Jeep were several stickers with skulls and a few with crossbones, and in the middle of his display was a bumper sticker that basically said he was unrepentant. He was definitely signaling for all to see that he was a bad dude.

I’ve thought about him a lot. Bad? Maybe…but definitely headed in the wrong direction, and that makes me sad.  I hate to see anyone defiant against the Lord,  and I fear for what his ultimate end will be.

Repentant is a word that is not usually used in secular conversations. It is in the Scriptures, and the Lord has a lot to say about it. Most people think that the word means to be sorry…but that is not it. In the New Testament, it is from the Greek word metanoia, which means to change one’s mind for the better.  

In other words, we look at our past sins and misdeeds, and we change our minds about them. We make a conscious decision to go a different way. When we are unrepentant, we are saying we will not change, we will stay the course we are taking.

In the orthodox churches, this past week began the season of Lent, i.e., forty days before Easter. Christians are supposed to examine their lives and see if there is something they need to repent of…some practice, some sin, some habit that has overtaken them. When we are unrepentant, we are saying to God that we are okay the way we are.

As far as I am concerned, there is not a person on this planet who doesn’t have something they need to repent of.  During this season, we would all do well to examine our own hearts. We do not want to be unrepentant. Proverbs 28:14 says: “Blessed is the one who fears the LORD always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity.”

The Lord Jesus paid a high price to cover the cost of our sins. Let’s not take it for granted. If he cared enough to put his life on the line for us, the least we can do is take a good, hard look at our own lives and see if there is something we need to repent of.

photo by john hein courtesy of pixabay.