But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8

The gospel reveals the amazing and transforming love of God.

The Apostle Paul tells us while we were still lost and wasting our lives in sin, God can never love us less than He does. Rather, God clearly reveals and proves His own love for us by having Christ dying in our place. That means God embraces us even before we repent and turn to Him. In other words, our repentance was never the means to get God to love us. Rather, it is always because God loves us that brought about our repentance.

When we are fully aware of God's love, we are fully assured of His acceptance and approval towards us. Because of Christ's perfect and finished work on the Cross, God sees beyond our old sinful self to our new identity and nature in Christ (Colossians 3:1-17). In giving us His Holy Spirit to dwell within us, God is transforming us into the image of His Son so to reflect His glory. This makes our repentance a freeing and empowering experience.

To repent is to return to the truth of who we really are in Christ. It is reorienting our minds and hearts towards seeing ourselves as God sees us. The good part is, God does not see us as imperfect or flawed. Rather God sees us as a masterpiece fashioned by His loving hands. Put simply, to repent is to live in the reality of the gospel. The more we understand this reality, the more we manifest the power of abundant life.

Knowing that your salvation is secured through Christ's saving power enables you to live a holy life. Being made a new creation in His image transforms you from the inside out. You are no longer given to sin because the Spirit in you will cause you to live right and love God above all else.