Passage Read: Acts 4-5
Meditation Verses: 5:30-31
Thought
There it is again: God raised up Jesus to appoint Him a Prince and Savior, and to grant repentance and forgiveness of sins. Jesus is both Lord and Savior. Through Him God grants to any who are willing to believe both repentance and forgiveness of sins. The true sign of salvation is a recognition and rejection of our former sinful ways. The ability to see and reject those former ways is a gift of God, coupled with forgiveness of those former sinful ways. Though we may not know all our sinful ways which God condemns, we each know that some of our ways are wrong even in our own eyes. The spirit of repentance, though, doesn't stop at just those things we think are wrong, but draws near to God to learn all His holy will, so as to cleanse our life of and receive forgiveness for every single thing God hates.
Application
Repentance is as much a gift as forgiveness is. Both are given by God; both are part of the same work of salvation. Repentance is needed for forgiveness; we must reject sinful ways and turn away from them in order to be forgiven. God doesn't forgive us if we're not also turning away from our sinful ways. Repentance isn't just a "want to stop," but a cutting off of any behavior God calls wrong. If I hate what God hates and work to root it out of my life, that is evidence of God's gift of repentance to me, and it should bring me confidence also in God's forgiveness for me. That humility and repentance is also what I can and should look for and expect in the heart of everyone called by God to believe His Gospel.