Faith and repentance are intermingled at the core. Have you ever wondered if it’s either faith or repentance? We are called to have faith and to repent. It is actually not possible to have faith in Jesus without repentance and the Bible makes that clear in Mark 1:15 “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” We can’t separate our faith from the repenting of our sins.

In our repentance we are saying that we can’t fix ourselves no matter how hard we try and we put our faith in Jesus who can fix us and give us eternal life with him. Believing in Jesus as your Lord and Savior cannot be done without the realization that you are a sinner in need of a Savior. We can’t claim Christ and choose not to repent. Repenting is part of faith and should be something we do often.

When we repent of the sinfulness we have, it doesn’t all just go away and we live perfect lives. We actually have a strong desire to go back to a lot of the same sins we have been committing for years. We want to place ourselves on the throne of our hearts instead of Jesus. We have to ask for the Lord’s help daily to turn from a self-centered life and to a life that has Jesus at the center of what we do. I love how David Platt explains this: “Repentance is not just turning from something but turning to something or someone.” It is admitting that we are sinful and are in need of a savior to stand in our place before a Holy God. We have faith and know that God will forgive us when we repent. So, it’s not one or the other. The Bible is clear that we must repent and believe. Put Jesus at the center of everything you do!