Consequences

"If your sorrow is because of certain consequences which have come on your family because of your sin, this is remorse, not true repentance.  If, on the other hand, you are grieved because you also sinned against God and His holy laws, then you are on the right road." -Billy Graham

In order to truly understand repentance we must understand what sin is.  The Bible defines sin as the transgression of the law (1 John 3:4).  This is important because if sin is breaking God's law, repenting of your sins is aimed at God (the One who was offended), not other human beings.  Repentance is vertical, not horizontal.  We also need to understand what repentance is and why it is important.  Repentance simply means to turn away from sin and to turn to God.  This isn't something we can do on our own, this act comes from God Himself (See Romans 2:4, Acts 11:18).  Repentance is also commanded by God and is required for Salvation (and again, this isn't a work we can do to earn Salvation, it comes from God).  In Matthew 4:17 Jesus tells us to "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand".  

It is important to distinguish Repentance from remorse.  As mentioned by Billy Graham in the quote I opened this devotional with, if your sorrow comes because of negative consequences for yourself and/or your family because of your sin, that is not repentance.  These things are wrong but sin is not primarily wronging another person, it's rebelling against God (disobeying His law).  Even David, after he committed adultery and had a man murdered to cover up what he had done, said "Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight,.." (Psalm 51:4).  We never know how much time we have left.  All you have to do is take a walk through a graveyard and look at the dates on the tombstones to see not everyone was 85 years old when they died.  The stats are clear, 10 out of 10 people die.  Do not wait another day, repent and put your trust in Jesus Christ today while His mercy is still extended to us.