Matthew 26: 75
Greetings brothers and friends of Steemchurch. My good wishes for all. Welcome to my blog.
My message for today is directed to certain attitudes of the human being in order to differentiate "repentance and remorse", since both terms reflect a high feeling of guilt, of pain, but one differs from the other.
The Bible tells us the story of the apostle Peter and teaches us the depth of his fall, and the example of those who vacillate between a strong verbal affirmation of faith and a weak performance in real life.
We all know that Peter lived one of the most bitter and sad experiences of his life when he denied his lord Jesus Christ.
What is the reflection we can learn from this performance of Peter?
Pedro risked his own life trying to be close to the Lord during his trial.
That is worthy of praise and admiration, but for the way he reacted to the tense situation he faced. Several things can be indicated as indicative of the qualities and characteristics of human beings.
1.- self-preservation is an intense force. Fear, cowardice and pride often induce us to do and say things that we would not do in normal situations.
2.- small sins grow and multiply. To sustain a lie many times you have to resort to others.
- Fear of others can lead us to be disloyal to God. This is precisely what happened to Pedro.
4.- We talk a lot about our strengths, but we do not recognize our weaknesses. Peter boasted of his fidelity to the Lord with his statement:
"Though all be scandalized of you, I will never be shocked" (Matthew 26:33).
James 1:19 advises wisely:
"Every man be quick to hear, slow to speak."
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In that order of ideas, the best way to conduct our human nature is in an attitude of dependence and absolute trust in God.
The divine principle for this is found in Proverbs 3: 5:
"Trust in Jehovah with all your heart and do not lean on your own prudence."
That is why the crowing of the cock made Peter's words return to him the words that Jesus had told him that he would deny him. The bible tells us that when this happens, then Peter remembered the words of Jesus.
What a wonderful mechanism there is in the mind of the human being, the device that allows him to recover the impressions of the past!
Memory gives man the ability to see things in perspective and lay the foundations for intelligent thoughts.
History is the "memory of humanity." And, particularly, the Bible is the word of God recorded by the prophets and the apostles so that we meditate on it and practice it.
Peter, put into this situation, appeals to the word given by the Lord in his teachings, remembered the past and the word "repentance".
Regret. It is not enough to feel bad for the bad actions of the past. The feelings of guilt are only at the beginning. One may well feel remorse, pain at having done something wrong, or have been discovered in error, while still doing the same thing that causes pain. That is, without repenting.
Repentance is a change of mind that results in a change of behavior. Remorse is only mental torture, a bitter feeling of guilt or regret for the results of a bad action.
Unlike true repentance, remorse never leads a person to positive and corrective actions.
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For example Judas expressed remorse for having betrayed Jesus, but he did not repent. Peter wept bitterly for having denied Christ, but his deep pain brought him to true repentance.
Pedro left the house of Annas and "wept bitterly". The strong implication here is to acknowledge their sin and weep bitterly to God in search of forgiveness.
How wonderful to think that God listens attentively to everyone who cries out to Him with a contrite and humbled heart in search of His mercy (Read 1John 1: 9).
Peter learned that night that he could not hold true to the Lord by his own strength, but that all his spiritual energy had to come from God. Besides, the Lord taught him that it was not good to feel self-sufficient in this world of evil we live in, because the forces of man depend only on God.
Repentance is a spontaneous act, which must arise from the legitimate understanding of one's own mistakes, and have positive effects on man, while remorse also produces effects, but negative, because it is something transient, ephemeral that obviously does not produce changes.
Peter teaches us that repentance is an act of worth worthy to imitate, that he recognizes his errors and departs from wise men, and will obtain mercy from God.
God calls all men to repent of evil.
2 Corinthians 7:10 for the pain that is according to God, works healthy repentance, that there is no need to repent; more the pain of the century works death.
Blessings.
Repentance and remorse are two very similar emotions. It should be mentioned that although they are very similar, in no case are they the same. Often feel one can and (usually) accompanied by the other, however, are not always mutually inclusive. Judas did not experience repentance, but remorse. Instead of repenting of having sinned and appealing to God to ask for forgiveness, he left and hanged himself. ..
Remorse is the appropriate, the morally correct, reaction to wrongdoing. Properly construed, guilt is a localized phenomenon. It impeaches an action without shaming an entire being. Remorse differentiates between the wrong and the wrongdoer, denouncing the sin, but not the sinner.
I imagine Pedro's pain when the rooster sang a third time, and I look at the face of our Lord ... the reality of human nature is that we do not know how we will react before many circumstances, we can say a lot, but our reaction can be very different , but we know that Jesus loved Peter and already knew everything that would happen. his repentance was of heart. great reflection of repentance and remorse @ricci01 God bless you!
Amen, sincere repentance is a value that moves the heart of God, and in any situation we know that Jesus Christ will never leave us. Thanks for commenting @ enilekcays47. Blessings.
When the human being repents and bears witness to it, this is good in the eyes of God.
Good teaching sister @ricci01, it is good to know that difference to know how to treat both feelings. Blessings