Change the Way You Think

“Change the way you think.” That’s what the Lord has been saying to me for several months now. I think the Lord wants me to repent, not in a modern day sense of the understanding of that word, i.e. to ask for forgiveness for sin, but, rather, to allow for a spiritual renewal of my thoughts and attitudes (Eph 4:23). To transform me by changing the way I think (Rom 12:2), how I perceive and observe, and how I process what I observe and perceive.

Anytime the word repentance is mentioned, we immediately think someone has done something wrong and needs to ask for forgiveness, but in the original language, is not turning away from our sins; even though, it’s what we’ve been taught for years. In fact, when you look through the New Testament and the 32 verses that mention the word “repent” in some form, nowhere does it say “Repent of your sins.” It does say:

• Repent, and believe (Mark 1:15)
• Repent, and be baptized (Acts 2:38)
• Repent, and be converted (Acts 3:19)
• Repent, and turn to God (Acts 26:20)

The word “repent” in the New Testament is the Greek word metanoeo. It’s a combination of two words:

• meta: to change (like metamorphosis)
• noieo: the mind, our “thinker” (like the word knowledge)

“To repent” literally means, “to change the way you think.”

When Jesus said, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17), he was saying, “Stop thinking the old way and think a new way, the way God wants you to think.”  He was simply saying, “Think differently.”